na"H:kew     H       nender'Son 


TKe  Dcx>^s    of    OU 


\  > 


.SJ6T& 
W4 


THE  DAYS  OF  OLD; 


CENTENNIAL  DISCOURSE, 


DELIVERED   IN    TRINITY   CHURCH,    NEWARK,  N.  J., 
FEBRUARY  22,  1846. 


MATTlfEW  H.  HENDERSON,  M.  A. 

'•■  RECTOR. 


PUBLISHED    BY    REQUEST 


NEW-YORK : 

PRINTED  BY  LEAVITT,  TROW,  AND  COMPANY, 

194  Broadway. 

1846. 


Newark,  April  I3th,  1846. 
Rev.  Matthew  H.  Henderson  : 

Dear  Sir: — At  a  meeting  of  the  Vestry  of  Trinity  Church,  held  on  Easter 
Even,  April  11th,  1846,  the  following  preamble  and  resolution  were  unanimously 
adopted : 

"  Whereas,  on  occasion  of  the  late  Centennial  Anniversary  of  the  granting  of 
the  Charter  of  this  Church,  a  discourse  was  delivered  by  the  Rector,  which 
furnished  a  history  of  the  parish  from  that  period  to  the  present  time,  and,  in 
addition,  contained  many  valuable  and  highly  interesting  facts  relating  to  the  early 
establishment  of  the  Church  in  this  section  of  New  Jersey,  and  as  the  said  dis- 
course is  eminently  worthy  of  preservation  : 

"  Therefore,  Resolved,  That  the  Rector  be  requested  to  furnish  a  copy  of  his 
discourse  delivered  February  22d,  1846,  for  publication." 

In  accordance  therewith,  we  would  beg  leave  to  urge  you  to  comply  with  the 
request  the  resolution  contains,  and  remain. 
Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servants. 

Archer  Gifford,  Warden. 
Jabez  W.  Hayes, 
*  Samuel  Meeker, 

George  C.  Ruckel, 
Abraham  Cross,  -tx^,, 

ik,  ■*'  William  Wright,  tt-   .. 

*  Thomas  P.  NoRRis,  }■  Vestrymen. 

Silas  Merchant, 
Jabez  P.  Pennington, 
William  T.  Merger, 
Joseph  E.  Trippe,  J 


Extract  from  the  minutes  of  the  annual  meeting  of  the  congregation  of 
Trinity  Church,  held  Easter  Monday,  1846. 

"  The  following  preamble  and  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted : 

"  It  having  been  represented  to  the  congregation  that  the  late  Vestry  have 
requested  the  Rector  of  this  Church  to  furnish  them  a  copy  of  his  Centennial 
Sermon  for  publication  ;  it  was,  therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  the  congregation  of  this  Church  tender  their  respectful  thanks 
to  the  Rev.  M.  H.  Henderson,  for  the  interesting  sketch  of  the  history  of  this 
Church  presented  in  his  Centennial  Sermon  ;  and  do  hereby  express  their  desire 
that  he  will  comply  with  the  request  of  the  Vestry  to  furnish  a  copy  of  the  same 
for  publication,  in  order  that  the  valuable  fruits  of  his  industry  and  research  may 
be  durably  preserved. 

"  Resolved,  That  the  Clerk  furnish  a  copy  of  the  above  resolution  to  the  Rector, 
and  that  it  be  prefixed  to  the  Sermon  when  published." 

THOMAS  D.  CLEARMAN,  Clerk. 


ADVERTISEMENT. 

Having  been  led,  in  the  following  discourse,  incidentally  to 
notice  some  points  respecting  the  political  position  and  influence  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  in  regard  to  which  he  conceives 
there  is  much  ignorance  or  misapprehension  ;  the  author  would  state, 
that  his  remarks  have  no  particular  nor  invidious  reference.  His 
aim  and  desire  was  to  "  speak  the  truth  in  love  " — ^giving  no  just 
cause  of  offence — while  endeavoring  to  relieve  the  Church  to  which 
he  is  attached  from  imputations  too  frequently,  and  he  may  add  very 
unnecessarily,  cast  upon  her. 


% 


E  R  K ATA. 

Page  27,  Note  3,  for  "  is"  read  are.. 


DISCOURSE.  iP 


Remember  the  days  of  old  ;  consider  the  years  of  many 
generations  ;  ask  thy  father,  and  he  will  shew  thee  ;  thy 
elders,  and  THEY  WILL  TELL  THEE.     Deuteronomy  32  :  7. 

Moses,  the  man  of  God  and  leader  of  Israel,  was  now 
a  hundred  and  twenty  years  old.  He  had  reached  the 
farthest  limits  of  human  life.  Moreover,  God  had  told 
him  that  he  should  not  go  over  Jordan,  and  the  people 
stood  upon  its  banks.  Wherefore  he  calls  them  to- 
gether to  receive  his  parting  counsel  and  benediction. 
Having  reviewed  their  history,  recounting  the  various 
wonderful  mercies  by  which  it  was  distinguished,  he  en- 
courages them  to  trust  in  the  Lord  with  a  willing  and 
faithful  heart. 

His  work  was  finished — his  task  was  done — and  the 
faithful  servant^  in  God's  house  was  now  to  enter  into 
rest.  But  one  more  communication  was  to  be  made, 
ere  he  ceased  entirely  from  his  earthly  labours.  "  The 
Lord  appeared  in  the  tabernacle  in  the  pillar  of  a  cloud," 
to  tell  him  of  the  apostasy  of  the  children  of  Israel  after 
his  death,  with  the  sore  punishment  which  should  befall 
them  by  reason  thereof; — even  "  many  evils  and  trou- 
bles."^   As  a  memento  therefore,  of  his  mercy  and  his 

'    Heb.  iii.  5.  *  Deut.  xxxi.  17. 


truth  to  all  generations,  the  Lord  gave  him  "  a  song," 
which  he  should  teach  the  children  of  Israel,  and  which 
should  be  to  them  as  "  household  words."  "Now  there- 
fore write  ye  this  song  for  you,  and  teach  it  the  children 
of  Israel ;  put  it  in  their  mouths,  that  this  song  may  be 
a  witness  for  me  against  the  children  of  Israel."  And 
"  Moses  wrote  this  song  the  same  day,  and  taught  it  the 
children  of  Israel."  From  that  song,  the  words  of  the 
text  are  taken.  They  were  designed,  in  common  with 
the  whole  of  this  sacred  composition,  to  cherish  in  His 
people  a  memory  of  the  past,  which  should  be  through 
all  succeeding  ages,  for  a  confirmation  of  their  faith,  and 
a  rebuke  of  their  apostasy. 

But  while  God  gave  this  song  to  his  own  people 
Israel,  and  the  Jewish  believer  was  especially  intended 
to  be  instructed  by  it ;  w^e  also  may  be  edified  by  its  no- 
ble and  inspiring  strains,  and  drink  wisdom  therefrom, 
as  from  its  fountain-head.  Memory,  too,  is  ours — and 
ours  a  rich  experience  of  the  past,  even  of  God's  great 
love  and  his  exceeding  faithfulness.  To  that  past,  I  now 
direct  your  thoughts,  "  the  days  "  which  are  to  us  "  of 
old," — "  the  years  of  many  generations." 

One  hundred  years  ago' was  the  charter  given  by 
England's  king,  under  which  the  corporation  of  this 
church  still  enjoys  its  trust  and  exercises  its  powers. 
What  an  eventful  period  hath  it  been,  that  hundred 
years  !    What  "  chances"  and  what  "  changes  "  hath  it 

'    The  charter  was  granted  February  quence   of   some   desirable    alterations, 

4th,  1745-6 — Lewis  Morris  being  then  this  charter  was  suspended,  and  another 

Hovernor  of  the    Province — and  is  re-  granted,  February  10th,  1746-7 — which, 

corded  in  Liber  C,  No.  2  of  Commissions  having    continued     unrevoked    to    the 

and  Charters,  folio  105,  &c.,  remaining  present  time,  is  given  at  length  in  Ap- 

in  the  Secretary's  office  for  the  State  of  pendix  A. 
New  Jersey,  'at   Trenton.      In   conee- 


not  seen  !  What  revolutions  of  states  and  empires !  What 
energy  of  Christian  effort  to  evangehze  the  world! 
Upon  such  themes  as  these,  however,  I  dare  not  enter. 
The  events  of  that  period,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  ourselves, 
those  "  days  of  old,"  to  us,  it  is  my  purpose  briefly  to 
review. 

The  earliest  records  relating  to  the  history  of  the  pa- 
rish, now  accessible,  are  those  which  are  found  in  the 
Reports  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gos- 
pel. ^     Of  that  noble  and  useful  institution,  "  the  old- 
est missionary  society  in  the  Protestant  world," f — since 
our  country  was  so  largely  indebted  to  its  kind  oiffices  for 
the  ministrations  of  the  Gospel, — it  may  be  well  to  give  a 
short  account.     The  act  of  incorporation  was  procured 
by  Dr.  Bray 3  and  several  others,  who  felt  a  deep  inter- 
est in  the  religious  welfare  of  the  colonies,  through  the 
agency  of  Archbishop  Tennison  and  Bishop  Compton, 
from  William  III.    It  bears  date,  June  16,  1701.    Upon 
inquiry  made  into  the  state  of  the  colonies,  at  this  time, 
"  they  received  from  thence  a  more  melancholy  account 
than  their  fears  could  suggest :  several  relations  setting 
forth,  that  the  very  Indian  darkness  was  not  more  gloomy 
and  horrid,  than  that  in  which  some  of  the  English  inha- 
vbitants  of  the  colonies  lived."''   Much  need  then  was  there 
of  the  kind  offices  of  the  society,  and  well  and  faithful- 
ly did  they  carry  on  their  work  and  labour  of  love.     In  a 
short  time  missions  were  established  in  South  Carolina, 
North  Carolina,  Pennsylvania,  New- Jersey,  New- York, 
and  different  parts  of  New-England. 

'     Several  volumes  of  those   reports         ^    Dr.  Bray  had  been  sent  over  by 

are   contained  in   the    Library  of    the  Bishop    Compton,   of   London,   as  his 

General   Theological  Seminary,  N.  Y.  Commissary  in  Maryland. 

*  Dr.  Rudd.  -•  Humphrey's  Hist.  Acc't. 


8 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Brook  was  sent  to  Elizabethtown,  in 
1704.  This  was  then  the  largest  town  in  East  Jersey, 
and  contained  about  three  hundred  families.  Mr.  B.  per- 
formed service  at  seven  different  places/  embracing  a 
compass  of  50  miles,  but  it  is  uncertain  whether  he  ever 
officiated  at  Newark.  He  was  a  man  of  great  energy, 
and  singular  diligence.  He  died  in  1707,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Mr.  Vaughan,  of  whom  we  shall  have  occasion 
to  speak  hereafter. 

Measures  also  were  taken  to  enlighten  the  Iroquois 
Indians,  or  Five  Nations,  "  bordering  upon  the  colony  of 
New-York,"  and  to  instruct  the  slaves  in  the  principles 
of  the  Gospel.  Some  idea  of  the  religious  destitution  of 
these  provinces  may  be  formed  from  the  fact,  that,  with 
the  exception  of  Boston,  Newport,  New- York,  and  Phila- 
delphia, there  were  no  Episcopal  congregations  "  held 
to  be  of  ability  to  support  clergymen  of  themselves/'^ 

In  the  selection  of  missionaries  by  the  society,  parti- 
cular inquiry  was  made  as  to  their  age,  their  condition 
of  life;  their  temper  and  prudence;  their  learning,  and 
pious  and  sober  conversation ;  their  zeal  for  the  Chris- 
tian religion,  and  diligence  in  their  holy  callhig ;  their 
affection  to  the  government,  and  conformity  to  the  doc- 
trine and  discipline  of  the  Church  of  England.  They 
were  required  further  to  read  prayers,  and  preach  before 
some  of  the  members  of  the  society.^  Ample  instructions 
were  given  after  their  admission,  to  insure  the  utmost 
possible  efficiency  in  their  ministrations.  They  were 
charged  always  to  keep  in  view  the  design  of  their  under- 

•     Rahway,    Elizabethtown,     Perth  *  Bishop  White's  Memoirs. 

Amboy,      Cheesequakes,     Piscataway,         '    Humphrey's   Account,  pp.  68,  G9. 
Rocky  Hill,  and  at  "Page's."  Roles  and  Regulations  of  tlie  Society. 


taking,  "  to  promote  the  glory  of  God  and  the  salvation 
of  men,  by  propagating  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ ;"  together  with  "  the  qualifications 
requisite  for  those  who  would  effectually  promote"  this 
design :  a  sound  knowledge  and  hearty  belief  of  the  ^Hlk 
Christian  religion ;  an  apostolical  zeal,  tempered  with  ^ 
prudence,  humility,  meekness,  and  patience  ;  a  fervent 
charity  tow^ards  the  souls  of  men ;  and  finally,  that  tem- 
perance, fortitude,  and  constancy,  which  become  good 
soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ,  [n  order  to  obtain  and  pre- 
serve these  qualifications,  they  were  enjoined  "  frequent- 
ly in  their  retirements  to  offer  up  fervent  prayers  to  Al- 
mighty God,  for  his  direction  and  assistance  ;  converse 
much  with  the  Holy  Scriptures ;  seriously  reflect  upon 
their  ordination  vows,  and  consider  the  account  which 
they  were  to  render  at  the  last  day."  It  was  no  slight 
evidence  of  the  far-reaching  wisdom  of  the  society,  as 
^::  well  as  its  single  eye  to  the  glory  of  God,  that  among  "^■'^ 
the  instructions  given  to  their  missionaries  was  the  fol- 
lowing :  that  they  "  take  special  care  to  give  no  offence 
to  the  civil  government,  by  intermeddling  in  affairs  not 
relating  to  their  own  calling  and  functions."  Besides 
these  instructions,  which  had  more  particular  reference 
to  themselves,  there  were  others  that  pointed  out  the 
general  mode  of  their  intercourse  with  the  people  of  their 
respective  cures.  They  were  to  be  conscientious  and 
faithful  in  the  discharge  of  every  part  of  their  duty,  to 
be  instant  in  public  prayers  and  preaching ;  to  in- 
sist chiefly  upon  "  the  great  fundamental  principles  of 
Christianity,  and  the  duties  of  a  sober,  righteous,  and 
godly  life ;"  diligently  to  catechise  the  children  and  others  ; 
circulate  religious  tracts  and  books,  and  encourage  the 


10 


establishment  of  schools,  especially  by  the  widows  of 
missionaries,  who  might  be  found  duly  qualified.  ^  ' 

That  able  and  faithful  men  were  found  among  the 
missionaries  of  such  a  society,  we  cannot  be  surprised  ; 
nor  that  their  ministrations  should  have  been  abundantly 
successful.  The  names  and  labours  of  Keith, ^  and  Tal- 
bot,^ and  Brook,  andVaughan,  and  Skinner,^  and  Brown, 


'    General  Rules  of  the  Society. 

*  The  Rev.  George  Keith  was  origi- 
nally a  Quaker,  and  came  first  to  the 
Province  with  the  appointment  of  Sur- 
veyor General  to  the  Proprietaries  in 
1685.  He  appears  to  have  been  a  man 
somewhat  imperious  in  his  natural  dis- 
position, and  the  cause  of  much  disquiet 
among  his  religious  connections,  "  by 
pushing  their  peculiar  doctrines  to  an 
extreme,"  but  sincere  and  earnest.  He 
maintained  that  no  consistent  Quaker 
could  act  either  as  lawgiver  or  magis- 
trate. (Hawkins.)  He  was  a  fellow- 
student  in  the  University  at  Aberdeen, 
with  Bishop  Burnet.  He  arrived  at 
Boston, as  Missionary, in  1702,  and  after 
travelling  through  different  parts  of  the 
country,  returned  to  England  in  1704. 
Mr.  Keith  appears  to  have  been  a  zealous 
advocate  of  the  distinguishing  peculiari- 
ties of  the  church.  The  writer  has  seen 
two  sermons  of  his,  formerly  belonging 
to  the  library  of  that  excellent  and  de- 
voted man,  Mr.  Holmes,  and  now  to 
that  of  his  successor  in  the  Rectorship 
of  St.  Mark's,  Orange.  They  were 
preached  in  Trinity  Church,  N.  Y. 
in  Nov.  1703.  The  one  is  entitled 
"  The  notes  of  the  true  Church."  The 
other,  "  The  great  necessity  and  use 
of  the  Holy  Sacraments.  Messrs.  Keith 
and  Talbot  came  over  in  the  same  vessel, 
were  friends  and  fellow-labourers.  The 
latter  officiated  at  Burlington. 


^  Dr.  Hawks,  in  his  •'  Contributions 
to  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the 
United  States,"  says  of  Mr.  Talbot, 
"  The  Society  never  had,  at  least  in  our 
view,  a  more  honest,  fearless,  and  labori- 
ous Missionary."  Mr.  Talbot  returned 
to  England  in  1720,  and  during  his 
stay  there,  was,  probably  with  Dr. 
Welton,  consecrated  as  Bishop  by  the 
"  non-juring  Bishops."  "  There  seems 
no  reason  to  doubt  it,"  says  Mr.Hawkins : 
and  he  adds,  "  It  appears  that  he  occa- 
sionally assumed  the  Episcopal  dress, 
and  that  he  administered  the  ordinance 
of  confirmation,"  An  order  was  issued 
by  the  Privy  Council  for  Welton's  return 
to  England,  and  Mr  Talbot  died  in 
1727.  No  traces  were  left,  as  far  as  is 
known  of  their  Episcopal  functions,  ii> 
the  way  of  ordhiation. 

■*  William  Skinner  was  the  first  Rec- 
tor of  St.  Peter's  Church,  Perth  Amboy. 
His  real  name  was  MacGregor  ;  and  he 
was  among  those  of  that  clan,  proscribed 
after  the  rebelJion  of  1715.  He  had  re- 
ceived a  superior  education,  and  was 
endowed  with  a  strong  mind.  Having 
received  Holy  Orders,  he  was  appointed 
missionary  to  Amboy  in  1721,  and  died 
Rector,  in  1757.  Mr.  S.  was  twice 
married — first  to  the  widow  of  Rev.  Mr. 
Brook,  the  daughter  of  Christopher 
Billop,  of  Staten  Island,  and  afterwards 
to  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Stephanus  Van 
Cortland,  of  New-York.     He  left  seve« 


11 

and  Chandler,  in  New- Jersey,  will  be  their  memorial  to 
all  generations,  as  having  faithfully  executed  their  great 
and  solemn  trust.  ^ 

The  first  services  in  Newark,  according  to  the  rites  of 
the  Church  of  England,  were  held  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Vaughan,  the  society's  missionary  atElizabethtown,  about 
the  year  1729.  In  the  report  for  the  year  1731,  occurs 
the  following  passage  :  "  The  Rev.  Mr.  Vaughan,  mis- 
sionary at  Elizabethtown,  N.  J.,  writes,  that  his  congre- 
gation increases  not  only  at  Elizabethtowui,  but  also  at 
Newark^  Whippany,  and  in  the  mountains,  where  he 
sometimes  goes  and  preaches  to  a  numerous  congrega- 
tion, and  administers  the  sacraments  among  them.  In 
these  several  places,  he  hath  baptized  in  the  compass  of' 
the  last  two  years  556  children,  besides  64  adults ;  and 
finds  a  general  disposition  in  the  people  to  be  instructed 
and  settled  in  the  Christian  faith."-  \ 


ral  sons  and  one  daughter,  who  became 
the  wife  of  James  Parker,  and  was  the 
mother  of  the  present  elders  of  that 
family.  Mr.  S.  is  said  to  have  been  an 
exceedingly  kind-hearted,  generous  and 
hospitable  man — as  well  as  a  zealous 
and  efficient  missionary.  The  writer  is 
indebted  for  most  of  these  particulars,  as 
well  as  some  concerning  Mr.  Keith,  to 
some  historical  notices  of  Perth  Amboy 
in  manuscript,  by  W.  A.  Whitehead, 
author  of  "  East  Jersey  under  the  Pro- 
prietary Governments." 

'  A  portion  of  the  sermon,  as  deliver- 
ed, is  transferred  to  Appendix  B. 

*  The  above  is  a  literal  extract  from 
"  an  abstract"  now  before  me  "  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  Incorporated  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  from 
the  19th  February,  1730-1,  to  the  18th 
February,  1731-2,"  on  which  day  was 


held  the  anniversary  meeting,  (p.  51.)  — 
"  London,  printed  by  S.  Downing,  in 
Bartholomew-Close,  near  West  Smith- 
field,  1732." 

For  the  following  particulars  the  wri- 
ter is  indebted  to  his  friend  John  S. 
Gondii,  M.  D. 

The  family  of  Sandfords,  partly  resi- 
dent in  Newark,  and  partly,  but  prin^ 
cipally,  in  New  Barbadoes,  were,  with 
their  connections,  the  Davis  family, 
and  some  other  branches,  Episcopali- 
ans from  the  outset.  The  first  mem- 
ber of  that  family  was  Major  Wm. 
Sandford,  a  member  of  the  Governor's 
Council  in  the  daysof  Lawrie  and  Rud- 
yard.  He  died  in  1692,  probably  in 
Newark,  and  nearly  40  years  before  the 
organization  of  the  Church. 

His  son.  Major  Wm.  Sandford  the 
2d,  a  man  of  some  figure   during  the 


12 

It  is  a  fair  inference  from  this  record  thus  providen- 
tially preserved,  that  there  was  something  of  a  congre- 
gation in  this  city  as  early  as  1729,  and  perhaps  at  an 
earlier  period.  The  statement  therefore  made  by  the 
excellent  Dr.  Macwhorter,^  formerly  and  for  many  years 
pastor  of  the  first  Presbyterian  congregation  in  this  city, 
a  man  whose  memory  is  yet  gratefully  cherished  among 
us  by  all  that  knew  him,  as  "  of  a  most  catholic  mind, 
and  a  more  catholic  heart," ^  in  his  Century  Sermon, 
preached  January  1st,  1801,  seems  not  entirely  accurate. 
According  to  that,  "  the  Episcopal  church  "  in  this  place 
"originated"  from  the  secession  of  "one  or  two  lead- 
ing characters  "  from  the  Presbyterian  church,  who  "  de- 
clared themselves  dissatisfied  with  the  Presbyterian  form 
of  government,  and  that  they  believed  the  Episcopal 
mode  was  nearer  the  gospel  rule,  in  the  years  1732, 
'33,  and  '34."     Dr.  Macwhorter  says,  in  a  note,^  that 

administration  of  Lord  Cornbury,  died  and  died  (iiaving  with  the  one  exception 

on  the   Neck  in   1732,  and   his  brother  considerable    families),  prior   to    Doctor 

Perigrine  some  years  anterior.  Macwhorter's  date  of  1732. 

The  Kingslands  of  Barbadoes  Neck,         This   list    of  probable    Episcopalians 

always  a  highly  respectable  family,  have  might  be  increased  by  giving  the  names 

also  been  Episcopalians  from  the  earliest  of  the  less  noted  members  of  their  fami- 

settlement  of  the  country,  at  least  from  lies,  brothers  and  sisters  of  the  parties 

a  period  so  remote  that  no  man's  mem-  mentioned,  who  also   probably  had  fa- 

ory    runneth    to   the    contrary.       Their  milies. 

residences  have  been  sufficiently  near  '  Dr.  Macwhorter  was  called  to  be  the 
Newark  to  enable  them  to  attend  reli-  Pastor  of  that  congregation  in  1759. 
gious  service  there,  and  after  the  church  He  died  in  1807,  having  presided  over 
was  formed  they  belonged  to  the  parish,  it  nearly  half  a  century.  The  corner- 
Out  of  this  family  there  died,  in  1698,  stone  of  the  present  building  was  laid  by 
Isaac  Kingsland,  a  member  of  the  Gov-  him,  1787. 

amor's  Council  during  nearly  the  whole         *   See  Bishop  Doane's  Historical  Ad- 
period  of  the  Proprietary  Government,  dress,  and  his  letter  respecting  the  ex- 
Not  far  from  the  same  time  also  died  cellent  and  lamented  Professor    Dodd, 
Gustavus    Kingsland,  and  in  1710,  Col.  of  Princeton. 
Edmund    Kingsland,   a   son   of    Isaac.         3  The  note  is  as  follows  : — 
These  men,  thus  enumerated,  all  lived  "  The  member  of  the  church  alluded  to. 


13 


"  the  member  of  the  church  alluded  to,  was  Col.  Josiah 
Ogden,  whose  grandchildren  are  still  alive,  and  are 
among  the  most  respectable  inhabitants  of  the  town." 
To  this  we  may  add,  that  his  blood  still  flows  in  living 
veins. '  The  particular  incident  which  gave  occasion  for 
the  disturbance  was,  as  he  relates,  "a  trivial  charge " 
brought  against  Mr.  Ogden,  "  which  coming  at  length 
before  the  Presbytery,  was  repeatedly  tried  by  that  body 
with  a  solemnity  far  beyond  its  importance.  They  al- 
most always  decided  in  favour  of  the  accused,  with  slight 
reflections  on  the  church."  It  is  very  probable  that  the 
circumstances  to  which  Dr.  Macwhorter  alludes,  tended 
considerably  towards  the  establishment  and  increase  of 


was  Col.  Josiah  Ogden,  whose  grand- 
children are  still  aliv,  and  are  among 
the  most  respectable  inhabitants  of  this 
town.  The  fact  was,  that  Col.  Ogden's 
wheat  had  been  cut  down,  and  was 
likely  all  to  be  lost  by  long  continued 
rains.  A  certain  Sabbath  presenting 
him  with  very  fine  weather,  he  was  in- 
duced to  draw  the  grain  into  his  barn 
on  that  day  ;  supposing  that  it  was  a 
case  of  necessity,  and  that  he  was  justi- 
fied in  so  doing.  The  Church  thought 
differently,  and  tried  and  censured  him. 
The  matter  was  brought  before  the  Pres- 
bytery, and  Col.  Ogden  was  acquitted. 
But  the  breach  was  too  wide  to  be  healed 
thus.  Col.  Ogden  and  some  other  per- 
sons withdrew,  and  were  the  first  mate- 
rials of  which  the  Episcopal  Church  in 
this  town  was  formed.  After  this  sepa- 
ration, the  Rev.  Jonathan  Dickinson,  of 
Elizabeth  town,  was  called  in  by  the 
Presbyterians  to  preach  a  sermon  against 
the  points  advocated  by  the  Episcopal 
Church.  This  sermon  was  preached 
June  2d,  1736,  and  called  forth  an  an- 
swer from  the  Rev.  John  Beach,  Epis 


copal  minister  of  Newtown,  in  Connec- 
ticut. Mr.  Beach  had  been  the  Con- 
gregational minister  at  Newtown  ;  but 
in  1732,  withdrawing  from  his  connec- 
tion, he  received  Episcopal  ordination, 
and  continued  the  minister  of  that  part 
of  his  congregation  which  still  adhered 
to  him.  A  long  dispute  ensued  between 
these  two  Reverend  gentlemen,  which 
is  still  before  the  public." 

'  Col.  Josiah  Ogden  left,  as  we  un- 
derstand, one  son  and  one  daughter. 
His  son,  David  Ogden,  was  appointed 
Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  before  the 
Revolution.  David  had  several  sons — 
Josiah,  Isaac,  Abraham,  Samuel,  Nicho- 
las and  Peter.  Samuel  Ogden  was  for 
many  years  warden  of  the  church.  He 
died  Dec.  1st,  1810 — aged  nearly  64 
years.  David  B.  Ogden,  Esq.,  of  New 
York,  to  whom  the  writer  is  indebted 
for  much  information  in  regard  to  the 
parish,  is  a  son  of  Samuel  Ogden. 

Col.  Josiah  Ogden's  daughter  married 
first  her  cousin,  David  Ogden,  and  after 
his  death,  Isaac  Longworth. 


14 

the  congregation :  but  that  it  had  existence  at  a  prior 
period  seems  manifest,  from  the  Report  of  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Vaughan.  In  1733,  (18th  December,)  Mr.  Vaughan 
writes,  "  that  the  congregations  under  his  care  in  the 
several  parts  of  the  country  are  very  large  and  numerous, 
in  which  great  numbers  of  poor  people  are  not  able  to 
purchase  Common  Prayer  books."  Doubtless  the  New- 
ark congregation  was  included  among  the  number. 

In  accordance  with  Mr.  Vaughan's  request  at  this  time, 
a  supply  of  prayer  books  and  tracts  was  sent  him  for  dis- 
tribution ;  which  he  writes,  in  1734,  "were  thankfully 
received,"  leaving  many  unsupplied  who  were  anxious 
to  procure,  but  "  unable  to  purchase  "  them. 

Since  my  residence  among  you,  my  brethren,  I  buried 
an  old  and  honoured  member  of  this  congregation,  who 
was  born  a  few  years  before  Mr.  Vaughan's  death,  ^  and 
may  possibly  have  seen  him.  She  had  been  a  commu- 
nicant in  the  congregation  for  72  years,  and  was  upwards 
of  90  years  old — the  connecting  link  between  the  past 
and  present — the  living  and  the  dead.^ 

It  is  gratifying  to  find  the  following  testimonial  in 
regard  to  our  first  missionary,  sent  to  the  society  by  his 
congregation  in  Elizabethtown,  in  1717.  "  We  esteem 
ourselves  happy  under  his  (Mr.  V.'s)  pastoral  care, 
and  have  a  thorough  persuasion  of  mind,  that  the  church 
of  Christ  is  now  planted  among  us  in  its  purity.  Mr. 
Vaughan  hath,  to  the  great  comfort  and  edification  of  our 
families  in  these  dark  and  distant  regions  of  the  world, 
prosecuted  the  duties  of  his  holy  calling  with  the  utmost 
application  and  diligence  ;  adorned  his  character  with  an 

'  Mr.  V.'s  death  is  reported  in  1747.     Caleb  Say  res,  for  many  years  a  warden 
'''  Miss  Rebecca  Johnson,  who  died  in     of  the  church,  and  a  man  highly  esteemed 
1834.     She  was  a  sister  of  the  wife  of    in  the  community. 


15 

exemplary  life  and  conversation  ;  and  so  behaved  himself 
with  all  due  prudence  and  fidelity ;  showing  uncorrupt- 
ness,  gravity,  sincerity,  and  sound  speech,  that  they  who 
are  of  the  contrary  part,  have  no  evil  thing  to  say  of 
him."i 

The  Rev.  John  Beach,  the  missionary  at  Newtown, 
Conn.,  writes,  Sept.  8th,  1736,  that  he  had  "  lately,  upon 
a  repeated  invitation  of  the  people  in  Newark,  N.  J., 
visited  them,  where  he  performed  divine  service  two 
Smidays,^  and  had  about  three  or  four  hundred  hearers, 
that  were  very  desirous  of  having  a  minister  settled 
among  them,  and  were  then  about  sending  a  memorial 
to  the  society."  From  this  time,  1736,  up  to  1743,  no 
particular  mention  is  made  of  the  state  or  progress  of  the 
Newark   congregation    in    the    reports  of  the    society. 


V 


'  Humphrey's  Account,  p.  194. 

2  To  these  services  Dr.  Macwhorter 
doubtless  refers  in  the  note  to  his  sermon 
already  quoted.  The  Rev.  A.  Beach 
Carter  vouches  for  the  correctness  of  the 
following  statement,  taken  from  the 
Banner  of  the  Cross: — "  It  is  a  remark- 
able fact,  that  when  Dr.  John  Beach 
returned  from  England  in  1732,  with 
Episcopal  orders,  his  former  congrega- 
tion, either  from  an  unwillingness  to 
lose  his  services,  or  from  conviction, 
conformed  also  to  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land ;  and  thus  their  former  pastor 
became  their  devoted  missionary  by 
appointment  of  the  '  Society.'  Tradi- 
tion has  preserved  an  anecdote  of  this 
brave  old  man's  coolness  and  composure, 
in  hot  and  troublous  times.  The  cir- 
cumstances occurred  at  his  Newtown 
parish,  for  he  never  had  but  the  one. 
Having  been  requested  to  discontinue 
the  prayer  for  the  king's  majesty,  he  at 
once  refused,  and  plead  for  excuse  the 


binding  nature  of  his  oath  of  allegiance, 
and  the  obligations  he  had  entered  into 
with  the  '  Society.'  This,  however,  did 
not  avail,  and  the  request  was  again 
made  and  again  met  with  a  like  refusal. 
Finding  that  requests  were  unheeded, 
they  advanced  to  threats  ;  but  the  old 
man  was  not  to  be  deterred  by  these 
either,  from  doing  what  he  conceived  to 
be  his  duty  ;  so  that  they  proceeded  to 
enforce  their  threats.  Dr.  Beach  was 
aware  of  their  design,  but  nothing 
daunted,  boldly  entered  the  desk  on  the 
appointed  day,  without  the  least  agita- 
tion. Nothing  unusual  occurred  until 
the  commencement  of  the  proscribed 
prayer,  when  the  church  door  was 
thrown  open,  and  a  detachment  of 
armed  soldiers  entered  ;  the  words — 
'  Our  most  gracious  Sovereign,  Lord 
King  George,'  had  scarcely  passed  his 
lips,  when  each  soldier  discharged  his 
musket,  directly  aimed  at  the  venerable 
tory.     A  deep,  death-like  silence  of  two 


16 

Doubtless  here,  as  elsewhere,  amid  many  discourage- 
ments the  heart  of  the  missionary  was  cheered  with  oc- 
casional tokens  of  God's  blessing.  Very  recently,  how- 
ever, an  original  letter,  dated  December  26th,  1744,  pre- 
served among  the  papers  of  the  Rutherfurd  family,^  has 
been  put  in  my  hands,  which  in  some  measure  fills  up  the 
gap.  From  this  it  appears  that  the  society's  missionary  at 
Staten  Island,  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Arnold,^  the  writer  of 
the  letter,  supplied  the  congregation  with  occasional  ser- 
vices about  this  time,  being  directed  "  to  officiate  every 
fourth  Sunday  at  Newark."  This  inconvenient  arrange- 
ment, however,  was  probably  of  short  duration,  and  Mr. 
Vaughan^  doubtless  officiated  here  from  time  to  time, 
until  the  appointment  of  a  regular  missionary  exclusively 
for  Newark. 

Mr.  Arnold  makes  sad  complaint  of  the  indifference  of 
his  congregations  both  at  Staten  Island  and  Newark,  in 
regard  to  an  adequate  provision  for  the  wants  of  his  fami- 
ly. "  They  have  been  so  far  from  rewarding  my  expen- 
sive journeyings,  arduous  labour,  and  weary  steps  through 
cold  and  heat,  thick  and  thin," — "  that  they  have  left 


or  three  minutes  followed,  and,  when 
the  smoke  was  cleared  away,  there 
stood  the  Doctor  !  unscathed  and  un- 
harmed. In  a  voice  clear,  distinct,  and 
firm,  he  merely  said,  '  My  brethren,  put 
your  trust  in  the  Lord,  and  fear  not 
what  man  can  do  unto  you.'  His  escape 
was,  indeed,  miraculous,  for  his  surplice 
was  cut  in  many  places,  and  the  balls 
entered  the  wood-work  of  the  pulpit  on 
both  sides  of  him !  It  may  be  hardly 
necessary  to  add  that  he  concluded  the 
service  without  fresh  molestation,  and 
prayed  for  King  George  with  a  more 
hearty  good  will  than  ever." 


'  The  writer  cannot  but  express  here 
his  deep  sense  of  the  many  acts  of  kind- 
ness received  from  this  estimable  fam- 
ily. Mr.  Rutherfurd,  now  deceased,  was 
for  many  years  a  warden  of  the  parish. 

'  Mr.  Arnold  had  been,  prior  to  this, 
travelling  missionary  in  New  England. 

^  Mr.  Vaughan  died  in  1747.  "  He 
and  the  minister  of  the  Presbyterian 
congregation,  then  the  only  clergyman 
in  this  town,  (E.  T.,)  both  lay  corpses 
on  the  same  day." — Historical  Sketch  of 
St.  John's,  Elizabethtown,  by  John  C. 
Rudd,  D.  D.,  Rector.     Nov.  21,  1824. 


17 

me  to  maintain  myself  and  large  family,  labouring  with 
my  hands."  The  stipend  of  £30  from  the  society,  was 
certainly  an  inadequate  support,  and  yet  he  had  "  not 
received  one  penny  from  Staten  Island  or  Newark,  dur- 
ing the  year,"  "  they  being  willing,"  he  says,  "  to  pur- 
chase heaven  without  money  and  without  price  !" 

In  the  Report  for  the  year  1743-44,  mention  is  made 
of  the  erection  of  a  church  by  the  inhabitants  of  Newark, 
a  fact  which  indicates  the  prosperity  of  the  mission. 
The  building  was  of  "  hewn  stone,  63  feet  long,  45 
broad,  and  27  high ;  with  a  steeple  95  feet  high  and  20 
feet  square."  It  stood  upon  the  same  ground  where  we 
are  now  assembled.  In  it  our  fathers  worshipped  for 
more  than  60  years. 

The  location  was  selected,  and  the  ground  given  by 
a  mutual  arrangement  between  the  congregation  and  the 
town.  According  to  a  brief  old  record,'  committees 
were  appointed  on  behalf  of  each  party,  who  met  at  the 
time,  and  "staked  out  the  plot."  It  appears  to  have 
contained  half  an  acre,  as  the  title  to  such  quantity  is 
confirmed  shortly  after  in  the  charter. 

About  this  time  application  was  made  by  "  the  inha- 
bitants of  the  town  of  Newark,"  for  the  appointment  of 
a  Mr.  Checkly,  "  son  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Checkly,  the  so- 
ciety's missionary  at  Providence,  New-England."  Mr.  C. 
therefore  having  received  holy  orders,  was  accordingly 
appointed  missionary  to  Newark.  But  the  designs  of 
the  society,  and  the  hopes  of  the  congregation  in  regard 
to  this  estimable  young  man,  were  frustrated  by  his  early 
death.     In  the  short  period  of  his  sojourn  in  England, 


'  The  only  one  relating  to  the  period    served  when  the  present   Rector   took 
before   the  Revolution,  which  was  pre-     charge  of  the  Parish. 


\ 


18 

whither  he  went  to  obtain  orders,  he  took  the  small-pox 
and  died. 

Some  idea  of  the  great  disadvantages  under  which 
the  church  laboured  during  our  colonial  existence,  may 
be  formed  from  the  fact,  that  beside  the  great  expense 
of  the  voyage,  (£100,)  an  expense  which  candidates  for 
holy  orders  could  ill  afford  to  bear,  nearly  one-fifth  of  all 
that  went  to  England  for  ordination  died,  either  from 
small-pox  or  the  dangers  of  the  deep.  ^ 

The  following  year,  (1744-45,)  the  Rev.  Isaac 
Brown,  of  "  Broke-Haven,"  was,  at  the  request  of  the 
congregation,  and  his  own  desire,  appointed  their  mis- 
sionary ;  they  giving  a  pledge  to  exert  themselves  to  the 
utmost  of  their  ability  to  give  him  suitable  encourage- 
ment, and  purchase  a  house  and  glebe  for  his  use."* 
The  salary  paid  to  Mr.  Brown  by  the  society,  was  £50. 

In  a  letter  of  November  1st,  1750,  Mr.  Brown  writes, 
that  "  it  was  then  a  time  of  great  rejoicing  in  his  parish, 
on  account  of  their  having  finished  a  fine  new  church, 
and  obtained  a  good  glebe  and  parsonage  for  their  mis- 
sionary, chiefly  through  the  bounty  of  Colonel  Peter 
Schuyler,    a   name   very  deservedly  in   high   esteem 

*  Dr.  Chandler  strongly  puts  the  case,  had  been  violently  opposed.     The  num- 

in  his  appeal  to  the  public  in  behalf  of  ber  who  had  gone  to  England  for  ordina- 

the  Church  of  England,  p.  39.     "If  any  tion  from  the  northern  colonies,  up  to 

other  denomination  of  Christians  in  His  1767,  was  52.     Of  these  42   only  re- 

Majesty's  American  dominions  was  not  turned  safely. 

allowed  to  have  a  clergyman,  without  2  Mr.  Brown  graduated  at  Yale  Col- 
paying  a  fine  of  one  hundred  pounds  lege  in  1729,  and  went,  after  being 
sterling,  on  his  admission,  and  exposing  ordained,  to  Brook  Haven,  Long  Island, 
him  at  the  same  time  to  some  dangerous  in  1733.  He  was  accounted  "  a  man  of 
process,  which  had  proved  fatal  to  a  fifth  talents  and  education."  He  removed  to 
part  of  his  predecessors,  would  they  not  New  Jersey  in  1747.  See  Histories  of 
esteem  it  an  intolerable  grievance  and  a  Long  Island  by  N.  S.  Prime,  p.  225, 
cruel  persecution?"  The  design  of  pro-  and  by  B.  F.  Thompson, 
curing    the    Episcopacy  before  the  war 


19 

among  them."^  A  portion  of  this  glebe  is  still  in  posses- 
sion of  the  Vestry.  Colonel  Schuyler  was  a  man  of  a 
large  heart  and  strong  hand  ;  not  only  blessing  the  church 
with  his  benefactions,  but  also  rendering  essential  service 
to  the  State,  as  leader  of  her  forces  in  the  French  and 
Canadian  war.  In  that  war  he  commanded  the  New- 
Jersey  contingent  of  the  provincial  troops,  and  was  pre- 
sent at  the  capture  of  Montreal  by  Lord  Jeffrey  Am- 
herst. ^ 

In  1752,  Mr.  Brown  speaks  of  "a  good  congreo-a- 
tion  at  Second  River,  which  he  constantly  attended," 
and  of  having  been  "  invited  lately  into  the  wilderness 
by  a  poor  ignorant  people,  to  a  place  where  a  minister 
of  the  gospel  had  never  yet  been." 

The  mission  at  Second  River,  he  describes,  January 
1756,  in  the  following  terms:  "  About  three  miles  dis- 
tant, to  the  northward  of  Newark,  there  is  a  compact 
village,  containing  about  300  inhabitants,  chiefly  Dutch, 
who  speak  English  but  tolerably  well,  there  being  no 

'  The  Rev.  Mr.  Vaughan.  2.9ih  May,  bethtown    and    New    Brunswick   were 

1739,writes  that /ns  church  had  received  "joined    into    one   mission,"  under  the 

a  benefaction  of  nine  acres  of  good  land,  care  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wood,  some  efforts 

with  a  fine  orchard  thereon,  for  a  glebe  were  made  to  secure  a  house  and  glebe 

for  the  minister  there  forever,  "  by  the  for  the  missionary  in  this  latter  place 

piety  and  favour  of  a  very  worthy  widow,  "  The  people  of  N.  B.  having  erected  a 

Mrs.  Anne  Arskins,  of  Elizabethtown."  church,  raised  £300  towards  the   pur- 

Dr.  Rudd,  in  his  interesting  Historical  chase  of  a  house  and  glebe,  and  oblicred 

Sketch,  mentions  the   benefaction,  but  themselves  to  pay  £40  per  annum^lo- 

not  the  name  of  the  donor.     The  en-     wards    the    =!iinnnrt   «f  ,       •    • 

^"      wdrus    me    support   oi   a   missionary. 

dowment  of  churches  with  landed  pro-  This   church   was   built  in  1743      See 

party   is    certainly    one   of    the    most  Appendix  C  for  a  brief  account  of  the 

judicious    and     effective     measures    of  New  Brunswick  parish 

Christian  benevolence.     [See  an  inter-         ^    An    interesting    memoir   of   Col 

esung  and    instructive    article    by    Dr.  Schuyler,   by   Charles    King,   Esq     of 

McVicar,  in  New  York  Review,  April,  Elizabethtown,  is  in  the  archives  of  the 

1841.     "The  Church  in  England  and  New  Jersey  Historical  Society-and  see 

America  Compared."]  Appendi.x  D. 

In  1749,  when  the  churches  at  Eliza- 


i 


20 

schoolmaster  among  them/  till  he  (Mr.  B.)  had  persuad- 
ed them,  about  nine  months  before,  to  agree  with  Mr. 
Samuel  Brown,  educated  at  Yale  College,  to  keep  a 
school  among  them,  and  to  read  prayers  and  sermons 
when  his  duty  at  Newark  detained  him  there."  The 
society  contributed  £10  per  annum,  towards  Mr.  S. 
Brown's  support.  This  situation  at  Second  River,  which 
you  recognize  from  the  description  as  Belleville,  was 
shortly  afterwards  filled  by  a  Mr.  Avery,  also  a  graduate 
of  Yale,  at  Mr.  Brown's  recommendation.  We  are 
happy  to  believe  that  our  Dutch  neighbours  have  made 
great  advances  since  that  time. 

In  April,  1763,  Mr.  Brown  reported  62  communi- 
cants, and  in  1764,  (Oct.  6th,)  he  mentions,  that  he  had 
visited  Morristown,  about  twenty  miles  from  Newark, 
and  preached  to  a  considerable  congregation  of  profes- 
sors of  the  Church  of  England.  On  his  journey  thither, 
he  baptized  eighteen  infants  and  four  adults.  About 
this  time  Mr.  Brown  suffered  much  from  ill-health,  and  re- 
ceived material  assistance  in  his  labours  from  the  kindness 
of  Dr.  Chandler. 

During  the  period  that  intervened  between  1764  and 
'74,  nothing  worthy  of  especial  note  occurred  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  parish,  or  of  the  church  in  the  whole  province. 
Mr.  Brown  continued  faithfully  at  his  post,  and  laboured 
diligently  in  the  service  of  his  Master,  for  the  salvation 
of  souls.  He  had  now,  (1774,)  been  a  missionary  for 
forty  years ;  and  "  notwithstanding  his  age  and  infirmi- 
ties,"— I  use  his  own  language, — "  he  had  with  little  in- 
termission performed  his  duty  at  Newark  and  Second 
River." 

At  this  time,  (1774,)  the  congregation  at  Second 

'  Mr.  B.  probably  refers  to  an  English  schoolmaster. 


21 

River  determined  to  convert  a  building  already  erected, 
into  a  place  of  public  worship,  which  would  contain  two 
or  three  hundred  people.  "  This  when  finished,"  says 
the  faithful  old  missionary,  "  will  be  a  good  exchange 
for  the  old  open  store-house  which  the  congregation  have 
been  obliged  to  make  use  of  for  20  years  past,  and  from 
which,"  he  adds,  he  had  "  suffered  much  in  his  health." 

It  is  interesting  to  read  the  report  given  at  this  time 
of  the  general  state  of  the  missions  of  the  society.  "  The 
state  of  the  church,"  writes  the  excellent  Dr.  Chandler 
from  Elizabethtown,  (1775,)  "is  of  late  become  a  very 
respectable  one,  through  the  charitable  interposition  of 
the  society.  The  missionaries  are  all  unblamable  in 
their  conduct,  and  some  of  them  eminently  useful.  In- 
stead of  the  small  buildings  out  of  repair,  in  which  the 
congregations  used  to  assemble  twenty  years  ago,  they 
have  now  several,  that  make  a  handsome  appearance  both 
for  size  and  decent  ornament,  particularly  at  Burlington, 
Shrewsbury,  New-Brunswick,  and  Newark,  and  all  the 
rest  are  in  good  repair  ;  while  the  congregations  in  gene- 
ral appear  to  be  as  much  improved  as  the  churches  they 
assemble  in." 

Fostered  by  the  generous  care  of  the  church  at  home, 
missionary  stations  were  multiplied,  and  "  believers  were 
the  more  added  to  the  Lord."  The  whole  region  felt 
the  salutary  influence  of  the  missionaries'  labours.  Eliz- 
abethtown, and  Newark,  and  Belleville,  and  Morristown, 
and  New-Brunswick,  and  Amboy,  and  Woodbridge,  with 
"  the  mountains," — all  had  the  Gospel  preached  to  them 
by  faithful  men,  and  were  enabled  to  worship  God  "  in 
the  beauty  of  holiness,"  according  to  the  rites  of  their 
fathers'  church,  and  their  fathers'  fathers.  "  Then  had 
the  churches  rest,  and  were  edified ;  and  walking  in  the 

3 


22 

fear  of  the  Lord,  and  in  the  comfort  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
were  multiplied."^ 

But  a  storm  was  gathering,  and  a  change  soon  took 
place  in  this  peaceful  scene.  Even  that  excellent  and 
devoted  man,  "  that  noble  champion  of  the  truth,  the  apos- 
tolic Chandler,"^  who  had  just  given  so  cheering  an  ac- 
count of  the  missions,  "  found  it  prudent  to  withdraw 
from  the  surrounding  troubles,  and  seek  refuge  in  Eng- 
land." ^ 

The  colonies  roused  by  civil  grievances  in  1775,''  rose 
in  arms  against  the  parent  government,  and  then  follow- 
ed the  long  and  wasting  war  of  the  Revolution.  Depend- 
ent as  our  church  then  was  upon  the  church  of  England 
for  her  ministry — for  no  bishop  had  as  yet  been  consecra- 
ted for  the  colonies,  the  missionaries  being  under  the 
nominal  jurisdiction  of  the  bishop  of  London — this  state 
of  things  was  calculated  most  deeply  and  seriously  to 
affect  her  interests.  In  many  places  her  clergy,  natu- 
rally viewed  with  a  distrustful  eye  in  consequence  of 
their  connection  with  the  church  of  England,  were 
obliged  to  leave  their  stations,  suffering  at  times  the  ut- 
most indignity  and  cruelty. 

One  of  the  missionaries^  writes,  Nov.  25th,   1776, 

'  Acts  ix.  31.  him  to  decline  an  elevation  which  he  so 

'     Bishop    Doane's    Sermon — "  The  well  merited.     He,  however,  took  the 

bush    that    burned    with   fire" — at   the  opportunity  of   recommending   for   the 

consecration  of  St.  .John's,  Elizabeth-  office  of  chief  Pastor,  one  who  had  done 

town.  and  suffered  much  for  the  church  ;   and 

^  Dr.   Chandler   was   afterwards   se-  Dr.  Charles  Inglia,  who  had  been  obliged 

lected    by  common   consent   to  fill  the  to  fly  to  England  for  his  life  in  1783, 

Episcopal  See,  into  which  the  remaining  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Nova  Scotia, 

English  Colonies  had  been  formed  after  Aug.  12,  1787." 

the    Revolution.     "But  that  admirable  *  The  battle  of  Lexington  was  fought 

man,"  says  Mr.  Hawkins,  (Early  Colo-  April  19th,  1775. 

nial  Missions,)  "  was  already   suffering  ^  Thomas  Barton — see  Hawkins,  pp. 

from  a  fatal  malady,  which  compelled  139-40. 


23 

*'  I  have  been  obliged  to  shut  up  my  churches,  to  avoid  the 
fury  of  the  populace,  who  would  not  suffer  the  liturgy  to 
be  used,  unless  the  collects  and  prayers  for  the  king  and 
royal  family  were  omitted,  which  neither  rny  conscience 
nor  the  declaration  I   made  and  subscribed  when  I  was 
ordained,  would  allow  me  to  comply  with  :  and  although 
I  used  every  prudent  step  to  give  no  offence,  even  to 
those  who  usurped  authority  and  rule,"  [allow^ance  will 
of  course  be  made  for  such  expressions,]  "  and  exercised 
the  severest  tyranny  over  us,  yet  my  life  and  property 
have  been  threatened,  upon  mere  suspicion  of  being  un- 
friendly to  what  is  called  the  American  caused    While  all 
the  clergy  w  ho  were  unwilling  to  espouse  the  side  of  the 
colonies,   "  w  ere  marked  out  for  infamy  and  insult,  the 
missionaries  in  particular  suffered  greatly."     "  Some  of 
them, "  he  adds,   "  have  been  dragged  from  their  horses, 
assaulted  with  stones  and  dirt,  ducked  in  water,  obliged 
to  flee  for  their  lives ;  driven  from  their  habitations  and 
families,    and  laid   under   arrests  and  imprisonments." 
These,  my  brethren,  are  the  bitter   though  legitimate 
fruits  of  civil  war.     All  suffered  by  their  mutual  hostility. 
Brother  was  arrayed  against  brother,    and  the  father 
against  his  son.     God  grant  that  such  scenes  may  never 
be  enacted  again. 

1  refer  to  these  facts,  only  to  show  the  peculiar  diffi- 
culties with  which  our  church  had  to  struggle  from  its 
connection  with  the  Church  of  England.  In  consequence 
of  this,  many  congregations  were  scattered  to  the  winds ; 
and  it  was  not  until  years  after  the  war,  that  regular 
organization  and  discipline  were  restored. 

Bound,  as  w  ere  the  clergy,  by  a  declaration  solemn 
as  an  oath,  that  they  would  use,  in  all  their  public  ser- 
vices, "  the  prayer  book  of  the  Church  of  England,"  in 


\ 


24 

which  were  prayers  appointed  for  the  king  and  royal 
family,  "  many  able  and  worthy  ministers,"says  Bishop 
White,  in  his  Memoirs  of  the  Church,^  "  from  conscien- 
tious scruples  ceased  to  officiate,"  when  such  prayers 
could  no  longer  be  used.  "  Owing  to  these  circumstan- 
ces," he  adds,  "the  doors  of  the  far  greater  number  of 
the  Episcopal  churches  were  closed  for  several  years." 
Whatever  we  may  think  of  the  conduct  of  these  clergy 
in  other  respects,  we  cannot  but  honour  their  purity  of 
motive  and  honesty  of  principle,  thus  maintained  and 
manifested  by  the  sacrifice  of  all  that  men  hold  dear. 

Yet  there  were  others,  and  among  them  the  illustrious 
individual  to  whom  I  have  just  referred,  who  saw  the 
necessity  of  the  case,  and  threw  the  whole  weight  of 
their  influence  upon  the  side  of  the  colonies.  Prominent 
among  these  were  the  clergy  of  Philadelphia.  Let  not 
the  Protestant  Episcopalian  forget  that  Bishop  White, 
"  the  father  of  his  church,"  was  one  of  the  first  chaplains 
of  Congress,^  and  invoked,  as  such,  the  divine  blessing 
upon  their  earliest  deliberations  :^  nor  let  him  forget  that 
Washington  himself,  "  the  father  of  his  country,"  that 
great  and  good  man,  worshipped  at  her  altars,  *  attend- 

'  White's  Memoirs,  p.  20.  day  was  noted  by  all.     It  contained  the 

*  Mr.  Duche,  also  an  Episcopal  cler-  35th  Psahn.  See  letter  of  John  Adams, 

gyman,  was  the  first  chaplain  of  Con-  18th  Sept.,  1774.     Also  N.  Y.  Review, 

grass.      This   was,   however,  in   Sept.,  Jan.,  1842. 

1774,  before  the  Declaration  of  Inde-  '  Bishop  White  was  appointed  Chap- 
pendence.  He  was  appointed  on  the  lain  in  Sept ,  1777,  at  the  gloomiest 
nomination  of  Samuel  Adams.  John  periodof  the  war,  just  before  intelligence 
Adams  wrote  on  the  occasion,  in  a  letter  was  received  of  the  surrender  of  Gen. 
to  his  wife,  "  Mr.  Duche  is  one  of  the  Burgoyne.  He  did  not  hesitate  a  mo- 
most  ingenious  men, and  best  characters,  ment  to  accept. 

and   greatest  orators  in  the   Episcopal  Bishop  Provoost,  also,  was  a  warm 

order  on  this  continent,  yet  a  zealous  friend  of  the  Colonies, 

friend  of  liberty  and  his  country."     The  *  Washington  was  a  communicant  o» 

remarkable  fitness  of  the  service  of  the  the  church. 


25 


ing  regularly  upon  her  solemn  services.  No ; — let  him  not 
forget  that  while  her  clergy  were  thus  hampered  and 
distracted  from  the  very  nature  of  their  position,  her  laity 
in  the  middle  and  southern  States  lent  a  most  efficient 
aid  in  their  country's  hour  of  need.  Among  the  stout 
hearts  and  true,  that  stood  up  manfully  for  their  country's 
rights,  who  more  prominent  than  Alexander  Hamilton, 
and  John  Jay,  and  Richard  Henry  Lee,^  and  Benjamin 
Franklin,^  and  Patrick  Henry, ^  and  Anthony  Wayne, 


'  Richard  Henry  Lee,  while  President 
of  Congress,  wrote  a  letter,  dated  New 
York,  Oct.  24th,  1785,  to  John  Adams, 
Minister  then  to  Great  Britain,  earnestly 
requesting  his  agency  in  securing  the 
Episcopate.  White's  Memoirs,  p.  325. 
*  The  following  remarkable  language, 
Dr.  F.  uses  in  a  letter  to  his  daugh- 
ter Sarah.  Under  what  other  circum- 
ances,  would  he  be  more  likely  to  express 
the  genuine  feelings  of  his  heart,  than  to 
his  own  daughter,  from  whom  he  was 
about  to  be  separated  by  distance  and 
the  perils  of  the  deep  ?  He  writes  from 
Reedy  Island,  in  the  Delaware,  Nov. 
8ih,  1764,  on  his  way  to  England  : 

"Go  constantly  to  church,  whoever 
preaches.  The  act  of  devotion  in  the 
common  prayer  book  is  your  principal 
business  there ;  and  if  properly  attended 
to,  will  do  more  towards  amending  the 
heart,  than  sermons  generally  can  do. 
For  they  were  composed  by  men  of 
much  greater  piety  and  wisdom,  than 
our  common  composers  of  sermons  can 
pretend  to  be ;  and  therefore  I  wish  you 
would  never  miss  the  prayer  days.  Yet 
I  do  not  mean  that  you  should  despise 
sermons,  even  if  the  preachers  you  dis- 
like ;  for  the  discourse  is  often  much 
better  than  the  man,  as  sweet  and  clear 
waters  come  through  very  dirty  earth. 
I  am  the  more  particular  on  this  head, 
aa  you  seemed  to  express,  a  httle  before 


I  came  away,  some  inclination  to  leave 
our  church,  which  I  would  not  have  you 
do." 

That  Dr.  Franklin  was  not  only  a 
true   Philosopher,  but  something  of   a 
Churchman   too,  no   one   can  question 
after  reading  the  above.     It  is  not  pre- 
tended that  he  was  what  is  called  "  a 
religious  man  ;"  or  that  he  could  not,  at 
times,  speak   in  a  vein   of  pleasantry, 
which  seemed  inconsistent  with  any  de 
cided  religious  attachments.  (Letter  July 
18th,1784,  from  Passy  to  Messrs.  Weems 
and    Gant )     But  that  he   had   deeper 
religious  feelings  and  more  decided  re- 
ligious   preferences,     than     the    world 
knew  of,  may  not  be  doubted.     His  well 
known  motion  in  Congress,  26th  May, 
1781,  to  arrest  a  stormy  debate,  for  the 
purpose  of  prayer,  shows  his  sentiments 
in  regard  to  the  power  of  religion  over 
others.     His    expression   on   his   dying 
bed,  to   Dr.    Shippen,  of  Philadelphia, 
"  It  is  safer   to   believe,"   indicates  its 
power  over   himself — N.    Y.    Review, 
Life   and   Writings  of  John  Jay,  Oct. 
1841.     Dr.  McVickar. 

'  The  seizure  and  sale  of  churches 
and  glebes  by  the  Legislature  of  Vir- 
ginia, must  remain  a  sad  blot  upon  the 
history  of  that  State.  Patrick  Henry 
resisted  this  act  for  many  years,  and  it 
was  not  until  after  his  decease  that  it 
was  obtained.     "  He  had  to  resist,"  says 


26 


and  Generals  Moultrie,  Sumpter,  and  Morgan  ?  Who, 
after  Washington,  contributed  more  to  secure  the  inde- 
pendence of  these  colonies  ?  And  jet  these  men  were  by 
profession  or  preference  connected  with  the  Church  of 
England.  All  the  patriots  from  South  Carolina  and 
Virginia,^  what  were  they  but  Episcopalians?  Nay,  a// 
from  the  south,  Avith  but  few  exceptions,^  and  with  them 
a  multitude  in  the  north.  ^ 


Bishop  White,  (Memoirs,  p.  86,  lo  which 
the  reader  is  referred,)  "  through  many 
years,  the  united  efforts  of  men  hostile 
to  revealed  religion,  and  men  who  cher- 
ished rancorous  hatred  to  the  Church  of 
England  in  particular." 

'  Virginia  was  favoured  at  an  early 
period  with  the  ministrations  of  the 
Church  of  England.  Rev.  Robert  Hunt 
landed  in  Virginia,  with  a  party  of  set- 
tlers, in  1607.  He  was  "  an  English 
clergyman,  whose  Christian  meekness, 
cheerfulness  and  perseverance,  under  the 
severest  trials,  were  a  signal  blessing  to 
the  colony." — Hawkins,  p.  3.  It  is  an 
interesting  fact  in  connection  with  the 
republicanism  of  our  Church,  that  Vir- 
ginia, an  Episcopal  colony,  should  have 
commenced  her  career  with  "  universal 
suffrage  and  equaUty."  See  Burke's 
Virginia,  I.  p.  302.  Coit's  Puritanism, 
pp.  77,  463. 

2  "  I  am  well  satisfied  that  a  large 
proportion  of  the  prominent  men  of  the 
Revolution  were  Churchinen.  Of  the 
Southern  men  who  figured  at  that  pe- 
riod, probably  not  one  was  otherwise 
than  an  Episcopalian,  except  Charles 
Carroll.  Those  from  South  Carolina 
and  Virginia  were  so  to  a  man.  Such 
as  Rutledge,  Laurens,  Moultrie,  Gads- 
den, Sumpter,  the  Pinckneys,  Madison, 
Monroe,  Marshall,  Richard  Henry  Lee, 
Gen.  Harry  Lee,  Washington,  Wythe, 
General   Morgan,  Pendleton,  President 


Nelson,  the  Pages,  the  Harrisons,  the 
Randolphs,  Peyton,  and  all  the  rest. 
*  *  *  *  At  that  period  there  were  scarce- 
ly any  dissenters  at  the  South,  from 
Maryland  down.  At  the  time  of  the 
Revolution,  the  congregation  of  Dr.  Da- 
vies,  a  Presbyterian  minister  in  Hanover, 
Virginia,  was,  I  believe  the  only  con- 
siderable one  of  that  denomination  in 
the  State." — Letter  from  Rev.  Dr. 
Ducachet,  of  Philadelphia. 

The  writer  of  the  above  letter,  than 
whom  no  man  is  more  familiar  with  his 
country's  history,  speaks  in  some  cases 
from  personal  knowledge — of  Rutledge, 
for  instance,  Monroe  and  Marshall, 
the  Pinckneys  also,  and  of  Moultrie 
and  Gadsden  ;  the  last  two  he  has  seen, 
in  his  early  youth,  standing  at  the  doors 
of  the  church,  in  their  military  costume, 
with  boxes  in  their  hands,  as  the  custom 
was,  for  collections.  Marshall  was  one 
of  Bishop  Moore's  parishioners.  His 
devout  and  humble  demeanour  attracted 
universal  admiration.  He  contributed 
liberally  towards  the  establishment  of 
the  Virginia  Seminary.  Judge  Story, 
in  his  Eulogy  on  Chief  Justice  Marshall, 
says,  "  Among  Christian  sects,  he  per- 
sonally attached  himself  to  the  Episcopal 
Church.  It  was  the  religion  of  his  early 
education,  and  became  afterwards  that 
of  his  choice." 

3  There  were.  Chancellor  Robert  R. 
Livingston,  Gouverneur  Morris,  Lewis 


27 

Such  a  fact  as  this  but  ill  comports  with  the  asser- 
tion sometimes  recklessly  made,  that  our  church  is  anti- 
republican.     She  hath  borne,  my  brethren,  her  full  share 
both  in  the  anxious  deliberations  of  the  council-board, 
and  the  hard  toil  of  the  battle-field.''     At  this  very  mo- 
ment, a  large  number  of  our  highest  officers,  both  upon 
land  and  sea,^  who  hold  their  lives  at  their  country's  bid- 
ding, adhere  to  her  faith,  and  discipline,  and  worship,  as 
the  religion  of  their  choice.    The  Episcopal  church  anti- 
republican  !  that  contributed  as  much  if  not  more  than  all 
others — the  above  names  being  the  witness — tothe  in  de- 
pendence of  these  United  States !'    The  Episcopal  church 
anti-republican  !  so  ready  with  her  best  life-blood  to  up- 
hold the  honour  and  the  interests  of  our  common  coun- 
try !     The  Episcopal  church  anti-republican  !  that  daily 
seeks  God's  richest  blessing  upon  the  highest  officer  of 
the  Republic,  with  "all  that  are  in  authority,"  and  her 
chosen  legislature    "in    Congress    assembled!'"     This 

Morris,  William  Duer,  James  Duane,  '  A  letter  from  an  officer  of  the  Navy, 

Francis  Lewis,  Robert  Troup,  in  New  now  before  the   writer,  contains  the  fol- 

York,  Gen.  Lord  Stirling  of  New  Jersey,  lowing  passage:  "I   have   been  in  the 

with  Robert    Morris,    of    Philadelphia,  Navy  upwards  of  twenty-eight  years,  and 

whose  services,  vital  as  they  were  to  the  have  formed  the  opinion  that  the  majority 

cause  of  the  colonies,  will  never  be  for-  of  the  officers  are  Episcopalians,  or  prefer 

gotten,  and   besides,  a  host  of  others  in  that  mode  of  worship." 

both  cities.  «  It  will  be   observed   that  reference 

In  regard  to  Robert  Morris,  an  Intel-  is  made  not  to  numbers,  but  to  names,  and 

ligent  lady,  who  enjoyed  with  him  an  the  exalted  character  and  eminent  ser- 

intimate   personal   acquaintance,  states  vices  of  individuals, 

that  he  married  Bishop  White's  sister,  »  See  Book  of  Common  Prayer.    The 

and  attended  Christ  Church,  Philadel-  conserva  tive  and  anti-revolutionary  ten- 

phia.     It   is   well    known    that,  by   his  dency  and    influence  of  the   Episcopal 

great  wealth,  he  sustained  the  cause  of  church,  as  a  general  rule,  is  manifest,  as 

the  colonies  in  the  hour  of  their  greatest  from  other    things— so    especially  from 

peril.     This  lady  often  heard  him  speak  this— her  constant  daily  prayer  to   God 

of  his  having  been  "  a  blue-coat  boy,"  for  "  the  powers  that  be." 

in  his  early  youth.     The  members  of  a  *  Bishop  White  states  the  remarkable 

charity  school  in  Westminster,  were  so  fact  that  the  General  Convention  of  1785, 

'^  '®'^"  comprising  a  fair  delegation  from  seven 


28 

church  anti-republican,  whose  whole  form  of  government 
is  most  strikingly  analogous  to  that  of  the  State?  Where 
else  are  the  checks  and  balances  of  ecclesiastical  le- 
gislation so  wisely  ordered,  and  so  well  arranged? 
Where  else  is  the  religious  denomination  among  us, 
where  the  laity  as  such,  have  a  negative  upon  the  acts 
of  the  clergy,  so  that  no  legislative  enactment  can  have 
place  without  their  concurrence?^     Surely,  my  brethren, 


States,  "  consisted,  as  to  the  lay  part, 
principally  of  gentlemen  who  had  been 
active  in  the  late  Revolution ," — while 
the  application  for  the  Episcopacy  then 
made,  was  to  "  the  very  power  we  had 
been  at  war  with." — Mem.  p.  90. 

Ought  not  the  original  document  to 
be  published,  with  the  names  of  all  the 
members  of  that  convention  signed  there- 
to, vv'hich  the  Bishop  writes  he  had  in 
his  possession  ?  It  is  possible  also  that 
a  majority  of  the  signers  of  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  were  Episcopa- 
lians. An  intelligent  correspondent 
writes,  that  18  were  certainly,  and  was 
inclined  to  believe  that  15  more  were  so. 
The  whole  number  was  51. 

'  The  author  is  not  aware  that  so  re- 
publican a  feature  is  found  in  any  of  the 
denominations  around  us.  The  Episco- 
pal Methodist  denomination  admits  no 
lepresentation  at  all  of  the  laity, — (De- 
canver's  Catalogue,  p.  4,) — while  among 
others,  he  believes  a  majority  of  the 
clergy  may  carry  any  favorite  measure. 
The  Bishops  too  are  elective  officers. 
They  hold  indeed  their  office  for  life,  or 
rather  for  "  good  behaviour."  But  that 
such  a  tenure  is  consistent  with  republi- 
can institutions,  is  manifest  from  the 
fact,  that  the  Judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  as  well  as  others,  hold  their  offi- 
ces by  the  same  tenure.     At  any  rate,  if 


it  be  not  republican,  it  is  apostolic. 

"  In  the  American  Episcopal  Church, 
the  body  which  exercises  her  legislative 
power,  is  constituted  analogous  to  the 
paramount  civil  body  of  the  United 
States — the  Congress.  This  consists  of 
two  houses,  of  senators  and  representa- 
tives of  the  several  States,  the  concur- 
rence of  both  being  necessary  to  laws. 
And  the  supreme  authority  of  the  Amer- 
ican Episcopal  Church  is  vested  in  like 
manner,  in  a  General  Convention  of  two 
houses,  with  co-ordinate  powers — the 
House  of  Bishops  of  the  several  dioceses 
— and  the  House  of  Clerical  and  Lay 
Deputies  from  each  diocese,  chosen  by 
the  clergy  and  representatives  of  the 
congregations  in  diocesan  conventions  ; 
the  consent  of  both  houses  being  neces- 
sary to  the  acts  of  the  Convention  ;  and 
the  clergy  and  laity  having  a  negative 
upon  each  other.  The  government  of 
the  Episcopal  Church  in  America  is,  per- 
haps, even  more  republican  than  that  of 
the  Presbyterian  denomination.  The 
legislative  bodies  of  the  latter  are  not  di- 
vided as  that  of  the  General  Convention 
of  the  Episcopal  Church  is,  into  two 
houses,  similar  to  the  civil  legislatures, 
nor  in  their  ecclesiastical  assemblies,have 
the  laity,  voting  as  a  distinct  body,  a 
complete  negative  upon  the  acts  of  the 
clergy,  as  they  have  in  all  the  legisla- 


29 

nought  but  ignorance  or  misapprehension  could  bring  the 
charge. 

Did  time  permit,  it  would  be  easy  to  show  how  fal- 
lacious was  all  reasoning  a  priori,  on  such  a  subject. 
Where  might  we  expect  to  find  republicanism  in  forms 
more  pure  and  perfect,  than  among  the  men  who  profess- 
ed to  have  fled  from  civil  and  religious  oppression,  and 
to  have  given  up  every  worldly  tie  for  conscience'  sake  ? 
And  yet  among  whom  of  all  the  multitudinous  denomi- 
nations that  cover  our  wide-spread  land,  were  found 
more  striking  instances  of  intolerance  and  persecution^ 
than  among  the  Puritans  of  New-England,  excellent  and 
noble  men  as  they  were.  At  the  same  time  it  is  a 
recorded  fact,  that  a  large  number  of  their  descendants, 
Congregationalists  by  profession,  espoused  the  cause  of 
the  mother  country  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and 
expatriated  themselves.  ^ 


live  bodies  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church." 

"  There  is  also  a  close  analogy  between 
the  civil  government  and  the  government 
of  the  Episcopal  Church,  in  the  single 
and  responsible  Executives ;  the  presi- 
dent and  governors  in  the  one  ;  and  in 
the  other  the  Bishops  of  the  several  dio- 
ceses, originally  elective  officers,  and 
amenable  by  impeachment  of  the  Dio- 
cesan Conventions  to  the  General  Coun- 
cil of  Bishops." — Bishop  Hobart,  "  Uni- 
ted States  of  America  compared  with 
England,"  p.  29. 

Bishop  White  expresses  the  same  con- 
viction.— Memoirs,  p.  74. 

'  See  Puritanism,  by  Thomas  W. 
Coit,  D.  D.  It  is  well  known  that  a 
distinguishing  feature  of  the  Newark 
settlement, — as  well  as  of  the  Puritan 
settlements  of  New  England— was  that 


no  man  might  be  elected  to  any  civil 
or  military  office,  nor  have  any  vote 
at  such  election,  unless  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  a  Congregation-'!  church.  See 
East  Jersey,  under  the  Proprietaries,  p. 
44. 

^  The  time  has  arrived  when  allow- 
ances can  be  or  should  be  made,  for 
preferences  and  prejudices,  the  growth 
of  education  and  associations.  The  ob- 
ject of  the  author  was  not  to  draw  com- 
parisons, but  to  show  that  the  oppro- 
brium, if  any  yet  attaches  to  those  who 
quietly  retired  from  America  and  were 
in  consequence  designated  as  royalists 
and  refugees,  should  not  rest  exclu- 
sively upon  Episcopalians,  and  also  that 
there  was  no  natural  or  necessary  con- 
nection between  any  set  of  religious 
tenets,  and  the  principles  of  republican 
liberty.    A  reference  to  the  acts  of  pro- 


30 


It  was  an  object  of  anxious  solicitude  with  the  church 
at  the  close  of  the  war,  to  secure  the  succession  of  the 
Episcopacy,  and  thus  perpetuate  that  ministry  which 


scription  or  confiscation  of  the  various 
states  will  show  the  fact  conclusively. 
Over  three  hundred  individuals,  many 
of  them  heads  of  families,  were  banished 
by  one  act  of  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts,— more  than  sixty  of  them  be- 
i  ng  Graduates  of  Harvard  University, 
— among  whom  were  undoubtedly  many, 
never  conceived  to  have  favoured  Epis- 
copacy. In  New  Jersey,  among  those 
whose  property  was  declared  forfeited, — 
in  the  county  of  Essex  alone,  there  were 
more  than  one  hundred, — the  names  of 
many  can  be  found  who  had  no  connec- 
tion with  the  Episcopal  church. 

The  reader  interested  in  the  subject 
is  referred  to  Eliot's  Biography,  Lin- 
coln's History  of  Worcester,  and  other 
local  annals,  and  particularly  to  "  Judge 
Curwen's  Journal  and  Letters."  Judge 
C, — himself  a  descendant  of  an  early 
emigrant  to  New  England  and  the  son 
of  a  dissenting  clergyman, — was  not  con- 
nected in  any  way  with  the  Church  of 
England  ;  and  his  Journal  abounds  in 
references  to  his  countrymen  with  whom 
he  associated  in  England  as  a  refugee. 
A  large  number  of  these,  says  Mr. 
Ward,  "  were  Congregationalists." — 
He  mentions  the  names  of  seventeen 
of  the  more  prominent. 

In  July,  1775,  Curwen,  then  in  Lon- 
don, says,  "there  is  an  ar  my  of  New 
Englanders  here ;"  and  in  June,  1776, 
he  mentions  "  six  vessels"  arriving  at  one 
time  "  laden  with  refugees,"  via  Hali- 
fax. 

So  Samuel  Quincy,  writing  Jan.  1st, 
1777,  says,  "  I  see  many  faces  I  have 
been    used  to  ;  America  seems   to  be 


transplanted  to  London."  This  family 
(the  Quincys)  was  one  of  the  most 
ancient  and  distinguished  in  Massachu- 
setts.    Eliot's  Biog.  Diet. 

But  perhaps  the  most  direct  testimony 
may  be  found  in  the  History  of  the 
Early  Missions  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, by  Rev.  Ernest  Hawkins,  to 
which  reference  has  been  already  made, 
wherein  are  copious  extracts  of  letters 
written  by  men  who  lived  at  the  time 
and  upon  the  spot.  Mr.  Breynton, 
writing  from  Halifax,  in  a  letter  dated 
January  2d,  1776,  says  expressly  in  re- 
gard to  "  the  wealthier  among  the  loy- 
alist families  of  New  England,  who 
sought  refuge  in  Halifax,"  that  "  many 
of  them  were  dissenters."  Hawkins,  p. 
371.  While  in  a  letter  the  year  after, 
he  reports  the  landing  of  another  body 
of  refugees,  "  about  seventeen  hundred 
loyalists  from  Boston." 

"  It  appears,"  adds  Mr.  Hawkins, 
"  that  by  the  end  of  1783,  not  fewer 
than  thirty  thousand  from  New  York, 
and  other  parts  of  the  States,  had 
arrived  in  Nova  Scotia."  "  Many  of 
them,"  he  adds  "  were  members  of  the 
Church  of  England  ;"  of  course,  then, 
many  of  them  were  not. 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter 
of  G.  A.  Ward,  Esq.,  the  intelligent 
editor  of  "  Curwen's  Journal  and  Let- 
ters," will  be  read  with  Interest,  as  the 
opinion  of  a  man,  than  whom  probably 
no  one  has  given  the  subject  more  at- 
tention: 

"  It  is  an  unquestionable  fact,  that  very 
many  Congregationalists,  descendants  of 
the  Puritans,  expatriated  themselves  at 


? 


31 

she  believed  was  established  by  the  apostles/  and  design- 
ed to  be  permanent  and  universal.  And  what  she  sought 
for  herself,  she  freely  accorded  to  others.  "  When  in  the 
course  of  Divine  Providence,"  such  is  her  moderate  and 
well  considered  language,  "  these  American  States  be- 
came independent  with  respect  to  civil  government,  their 
ecclesiastical  independence  was  necessarily  included  ; 
and  the  different  religious  denominations  of  Christians  in 
these  States  were  left  at  full  and  equal  liberty  to  model 
and  organize  their  respective  churches  and  forms  of  wor- 
ship and  discipline,  in  such  manner  as  they  might  judge 
most  convenient  for  their  future  prosperity,  consistently 
with  the  constitution  and  laws  of  their  country."^ 

This  object  was  ultimately  obtained  by  the  conse- 
cration of  Bishops  White  and  Provoost,  the  one  of  Penn- 
sylvania, the  other  of  New-York,  at  the  chapel  of  the 
Archiepiscopal  Palace  at  Lambeth,  on  the  4th  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1787.  The  Archbishop  of  York,  the  Bishop  of 
Bath  and  Wells,  and  the  Bishop  of  Peterborough,  joined 
with  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  in  the  imposition  of 
hands.^  Bishop  Seabury  had  been  consecrated  two  or 
three  years  before,  by  the  "  non-juring  bishops  of  Scot- 
land."''   Dr.  James  Madison  was  shortly  after  consecrat- 

the  commencement  of  the  Revolution  :  '  "  It  is  evident  unto  all  men    dili- 

some  espoused  the  cause  of  our  mother  gently    reading    Holy    Scripture      and 

country,  and  entered  into  her  service;  ancient  authors,  that  from  the  Apostles ' 

others  were  refugees  from  a  dislike  to  time,  there  have  been  three  orders  of 

rebellion,  and  in   the   firm  belief  that  Ministers    in  Christ's  church  :  Bishops, 

their  course  exhibited  a  love  of  law  and  Priests,  and  Deacons."  Book  of  Common 

order,  and  would  eventuate  for  the  best  Prayer,  Preface  to  form  for    ordaining 

interest  of  their  native  land.     A  large  Deacons. 

number  of  Curwen's  friends  were  Con-  *  Preface  to  the  Book   of  Common 

gregationalists;   and   I   have    no    doubt  Prayer. 

that  of  the  Massachusetts  loyalists,  ten  ^  Bishop  White's  Memoirs,  p.  136. 

were  of  this  persuasion  to  one  of  the  *  Bishops  Kilgour,  Petrie  and  Skinner, 

Episcopal  Church."  Nov.  14,  1784.  The  non-juring  Bishops, 


32 

ed  in  England  as  Bishop  of  Virginia.  The  succession 
of  the  Episcopacy  thus  introduced,  was  secured  bj  the 
consecration  of  others  for  the  various  States.  We  have 
now  twenty-nine^  of  that  order  in  our  American  church.^ 

It  is  an  interesting  fact,  and  somewhat  important  too, 
as  showing  the  sentiments  of  one  of  our  most  distinguish- 
ed statesmen,  in  regard  to  the  anti-republican  tendency 
of  Episcopacy,  that  the  successful  result  of  the  applica- 
tion was  owing  in  a  great  measure  to  the  agency  of 
John  Adams,  our  minister  at  the  time  at  the  court  of  St. 
James.  A  Congregationalist  himself,  from  the  very  heart 
of  Puritanism,  yet  can  he  write  in  words  like  these  :^ 
"  There  is  no  part  of  my  life  on  which  I  look  back,  and 
reflect  with  more  satisfaction,  than  the  part  1  took,  bold 
and  hazardous  as  it  was  to  me  and  mine,  in  the  intro- 
duction of  Episcopacy  into  America." 

The  succession  of  the  ministry  we  hold  to  be  essen- 
tial to  the  integrity  of  the  church.  If  there  be  no  suc- 
;  cession,  then  any  man  may  be  a  minister,  and  any  set  of 
men  may  make  him  so.  If  there  be  no  succession,  there 
can  be  no  ministry. 

In  this  agree  with  us  some  of  the  most  eminent  di- 
vines of  other  denominations.  That  eminent  man.  Rev. 
Dr.  Mason,  who  stood  at  the  head  of  the  Associate  Re- 
formed Church  in  this  country,  contended  earnestly  for  "  a 

although  severed  from  the  State  in  the  ence  of  State  protection."     The  writer 

Revolution  of  1688,  yet  carefully  pre-  heartily  coincides  with  these  sentiments, 

served  the  succession.  expressed  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  S.  Farmar 

'  Including  two  missionary  Bishops.  Jarvis,  of  Conn.     He  canot  but  regard 

*    "  Known   unto    God    are   all   his  it,  further,   as   a    providential   circum- 

ways,  and  he  seeth  not  as  man  seeth.  stance,  situated  as  the  church  then  was, 

The  American  Revolution  was  a  link  in  that  the  Episcopate  was  not  obtained  till 

the  chain  of  his  providences,  by  which  after  the  war.     Bishop  White  manifestly 

his  mighty  plan  is  bound  together.     Cer-  held  this  opinion.  Mem.,  pp.  70,71,72,73. 

tainly  we  have  reason  to  rejoice  that  we  ^    Dr.   Wilson's   Memoir   of  Bishop 

are  cut  loose  from  the  benumbing  influ-  White,  letter  29th  Oct.,  1814. 


33 

perpetual  and  regularly  successive  ministry."^  "  It  has 
been,  and  still  is,"  he  says,  "  a  received  belief  among 
almost  all  who  profess  Christianity,  that  the  Redeemer 
has  instituted  a  regular  ministry,  to  be  perpetuated  in  an 
order  of  men,  specially  set  apart  and  commissioned  by 
his  authority — and  that  no  man  may  lawfully  enter  upon 
its  functions  without  an  official  warrant  from  them  who 
are  themselves  already  in  office.'^''  What  is  this  but  ordi- 
nation by  those  already  ordained  ?  What  is  this  but 
"  apostolic  succession  ?" 

Hear  also  what  saith  Dr.  McLeod,  a  clergyman  of 
the  Presbyterian  church.  "  The  gift  of  office  which 
Timothy  and  Titus  received  from  Paul,  with  the  laying 
on  of  the  hands  of  the  Presbytery,  they  imparted  to  the 
Presbyteries  whom  they  ordained.  These,  in  a  similar 
way,  transmitted  it  to  other  "  faithful  men,"  and  these 
again  to  their  successors.  The  chain  of  succession  may 
indeed  be  buried  and  hid  in  many  of  its  links,  but  none 
can  demonstrate  that  it  ever  has  been  broken  or  destroy- 
ed. He  who  has  preserved  the  church,***  has  preserved 
the  ministry."^  We  wish  no  clearer  nor  stronger  terms 
in  which  to  express  our  doctrine  of  the  apostolic  succes- 
sion. 

Nor  is  such  succession  vitiated,  either  by  doctrinal 
error  or  even  comparative  apostasy.  Witness  the  church 
of  God  in  "  days  of  old."  The  people  of  Israel — did  they 
cease  to  be  God's  church  because  of  their  frequent  gross 
idolatry  ?  or   the   priesthood, — was  it  discontinued  in 

'  Treatise  on  the  Church  of  God.  the  creed  of  the  strongest  Churchman. 

*  See   Dr.  Wainwright's   Essays  on  For  with  them  Baptism  is  not  immer- 

the  Scripture  argument  for  Episcopacy,  sion  simply,  but  immersion  by  one  who 

The  principle  of  succession,  too,  is  in-  has  been  himself  immersed.     What  is 

volved  in  the  sentiments  of  our  good  this  but  succession  ? 
friends,  the^Baptists,  just  as  much  aa  in 


34 

Aaron's  line,  because  of  the  personal  viciousness  and  errors 
of  many  of  his  descendants  ?  Even  Caiaphas  "  prophe- 
sied,'" showing  that  the  official  act  may  be  valid,  while 
the  personal  character  is  most  infamous.  So  we  hold, 
that  amid  all  the  corruptions  of  His  church,  and  the 
frequent  moral  depravity  of  her  ministry,  "  the  apostolic 
succession"  holds  good — the  channel  of  blessing  and  the 
preservative  of  order  for  all  time. 

The  mode  of  that  succession  is  another  matter,  into 
which  we  cannot  now  enter.^ 

The  first  general  Convention  that  met  with  a  bishop 
at  its  head,  assembled  28th  July,  1789.  Measures  were 
immediately  taken  for  the  proper  organization  and  gov- 
ernment of  the  church,  and  from  that  time  to  this,  she 
has  grown  and  strengthened,  until  a  large  proportion  of 
the  most  intelligent  and  influential  citizens  of  these 
United  States  are  enrolled  among  her  members. 

We  return  to  the  history  of  our  own  parish.  Mr. 
Brown  was,  "  by  the  goodness  of  God,  enabled  to  go 
through  his  duty  in  both  parts  of  his  parish,"  in  these 
troublous  times,  "  with  some  degree  of  cheerfulness." 
In  a  letter,  however,  of  January  7th,  1777,  he  wrote 
that  his  church  had  "  been  used  by  the  rebels  as  a  hos- 
pital for  their  sick,  the  greater  part  of  the  summer  pre- 
ceding;" that  "  they  broke  up  and  destroyed  the  seats,  ^ 
and  erected  a  large  stack  of  chimneys  in  the  middle  of  it ;" 

'  Johnxi.  51.  Tillotson  calls  him, "incomparable, the 

'  See  Appendix  E  for  a  brief  argu-  glory  of  his  age  and  nation." 

ment  of  Chilllngworth,  the  great  cham-  ^  This  fact  is  also  referred  to  in  the 

pion  of  Protestanism,  on  this  subject,  records  of  the  Vestry,  wherein  is  pre- 

Locke  recommends  the  constant  study  served   a    correspondence    between    a 

of  his  works,  as  one  of  the  best  modes  committee  thereof  and  the  commanding 

of  attaining  "  both  perspicuity  and  the  officer,  Col.  Schrene,  of  the  continental 

■way  of  right   reasoning."     Archbishop  troops. 


35 

and  that  he  had  been  obliged  to  fly  with  precipitation 
to  New-York,  with  his  infirm  wife,  leaving  behind  all  his 
furniture  and  effects. 

It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that,  while  the  former 
rector  of  the  parish  was  thus  driven  away  from  the  scene 
of  his  labours  by  hostile  troops,  among  those  very  troops — 
"  the  rebels,"  of  whom  he  thus  complains, — was  the  ma- 
ternal grandfather  of  your  present  rector.^  I  remember 
to  have  often  heard  him  speak  of  the  church  at  Newark — 
he  died  but  a  few  years  since — and  tell  how  he  slept 
one  night  within  its  walls,  and  how  distinctly  impressed 
upon  his  memory  were  some  little  incidents  which  hap- 
pened at  the  time.  How  wonderful  is  the  providence  of 
God  !  Through  what  "chances"  and  what  "changes" 
do  we  not  continually  pass  ! 

The  last  account  the  society  received  of  Mr.  Brown, 
was  in  1784.  He  had  reached  Annapolis,  in  Nova 
Scotia,  after  a  month's  tempestuous  voyage,  accompanied 
by  his  aged  partner,  then  under  the  influence  of  "  a  deli- 
rium," as  he  writes,  occasioned  by  the  trials  and  troubles 
through  which  they  had  passed,  "  from  which  there  was 
little  hopes  of  her  recovery."  The  greater  part  of  the 
little  property  that  his  friends  had  saved  in  Newark,  was 
lost  upon  the  passage. 

'    Amos   Slaymaker,   of  Salisbury,  ing   been    made  on  the   Pennsylvania 

Lancaster  county,   Pennsylvania.     He  line  for  men,  to  form  what  was  called 

was  a  grandson  of  Matthias  Slaymaker,  "  the  flying  camp,"  a  few  of  his  com- 

from   Hesse  Cassei,  who  came   to  this  pany  volunteered,  with  himself.     In  the 

country  as  agent  for  a  London  company  organization  of  this  part  of  the  army,  he 

in  the  selection  of  land.     At  the  break-  was  appointed  Captain.     He  was  after- 

ing  out  of  the  war,  he  was  about  21  wards   at  the   battle  of  Germantown. 

years  old,  and  held  the  office  of  ensign.  In   1813,  he  was  elected  a  member  of 

in  a  company  commanded  by  his  uncle.  Congress.    He  died  June  27th,  1837,  in 

John    Slaymaker,  belonging   to    "  the  his  83d  year. 
Pennsylvania  line."     A  requisition  hav- 


f 


3G 

There  then  we  leave  him — the  aged  missionary — af- 
ter his  life  of  toil,  and  suffering,  and  self-denial.  Separa- 
ted from  the  flock  to  which  he  had  so  long  ministered,  shut 
out,  when  he  most  needed  them,  from  those  little  minis- 
tries of  love  that  would  have  soothed  his  declining  years, 
we  know  not  who  closed  his  eyes  in  death,  or  who  stood 
beside  his  grave.  One  thing  we  know,  that  He  was 
with  him,  whose  flocks  he  had  tended,  "  the  Great 
Shepherd  of  the  sheep."'  Aye  ;  He  was  with  him  in 
his  hour  of  loneliness  and  need.  He  "  made  his  bed  in 
his  sickness."^  His  rod  and  His  staff", ^  they  comforted 
him  in  the  dark  valley ;  and  He  gave  him — the  aged  mis- 
sionary of  His  cross — a  joyous  welcome  to  "  the  green 
pastures"^  and  "  still  waters  "  of  his  own  eternal  fold. 
"  Blessed  are  the  dead  that  die  in  the  Lord,  for  they  rest 
from  their  labours.^ 

Mr.  Brown  appears  to  have  been  a  man  of  a  quiet  and 
peaceable  spirit,  who  amid  the  troubles  of  that  stirring 
and  eventful  period  pursued  noiselessly  the  even  tenor 
of  his  way.  The  last  words  of  his  pen  were  these  :  "  He 
is  happy,  however,"  referring  to  the  difficulties  of  his  situ- 
ation, "  in  the  consciousness  of  never  having  done  any 
thing  to  occasion  the  cruel  treatment  he  met  with.  He 
never  preached  a  single  sermon  which  had  the  least  ten- 
dency to  inflame  the  minds  of  the  people.  His  only 
crime  was  that  he  was  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, and  of  course  attached  to  the  government  and  the 
constitution  of  Church  and  State."  He  survived  in 
Annapolis,  though  in  much  affliction  and  poverty,  till  the 
year  1787.^ 

'  Heb.  xiii.  20.  *  Ps.  xxiii.  2. 

"  Ps.  xli.  3.  *  Rev.  xiv.  13. 

'  Psalm  xxiii.  4.  ^  It  is  understood  that  Mr.  Brown 


37 

The  earliest  record  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Ves- 
try of  the  two  congregations,  is  dated  Easter-Mon- 
day, April  20th,  1778.  The  officers  then  chosen,  ac- 
cording to  the  provisions  of  the  Charter,  were  the  fol- 
lowing : 

For  Second  River.  For  Newark. 

William  Kingsland,  Warden.  Uzal  Ogden,  Harden. 

William  Dow,  James  Nutman, 

Arent  Schuyler,  John  Robinson, 

Wm.  Sandford,  David  Rogers, 

Edmund  Leslie,  Benj.  Johnson, 

Henry  Kingsland,  Ebenezer  Ward.  ;^ 

Their  first  attention  was  of  course  directed  to  the 
preservation  and  repair  of  the  church  edifices  in  which 
they  worshipped.  A  singular  and  somewhat  amusing 
instance  of  their  care,  is  found  in  the  minutes  of  a  jpieet- 
ing  a  few  days  afterwards— illustrating  the  mode  by  which 
justice  was  administered  when  the  laws  were  lax,  or  out 
of  joint.     I  give  it  in  the  words  of  the  record : 

"  It  appeared  to  the  Vestry  that  the  church  at  Second 
River,  had  been  robbed  of  the  leads  and  cords  out  of  the 
windows,  and  other  damages  done  to  the  church.  Agreed' 
unanimously,  that  in  case  the  robbers  will  put  said  church 
in  the  same  situation  that  it  was  before,  the  Vestry  would 
have  no  further  demands  on  them.  Wm.  Dow  and  Ed- 
mund Leslie,  appointed  a  committee  to  see  it  done." 

had  a  son,  a  surgeon,  in  the  British  ar-  Mary  is  probably  stiil  living  at  "  Three 

my.     A  daughter  (Mary)  married  Isaac  Rivers,"  Canada.     A  memorial  of  Mr. 

Ogden,  grandson  of  Josiah   Ogden,  of  Brown   is  still  preserved  by  a  family  of 

whom  mention  has  been  already  made,  the  congregation,  in  the   shape    of  an 

They  left  two  daughters — Catharine  and  "old  arm  chair." — See   Hawkins'  His- 

Mary.     Catharine  married  a  Colonel,  or  torical  Notices,  p.l63,  for  a  notice  of  his 

Major,  Andrews,  of  the   British   army,  death. 


38 

A  mode  of  dealing,  this,  with  robbers,  in  "  days  of  old," 
which  might  well  be  recommended  in  days  of  later  time 
— if  there  was  any  probability  of  the  same  result.  For 
the  observable  thing  about  this  matter  is,  that  in  less 
than  a  year,  there  is  spread  upon  the  Journal  a  written 
engagement,  with  a  responsible  name  thereto,  "  to  put 
the  church  in  the  same  order  that  it  was  before." 

The  next  business  of  the  Vestry  was  to  restore  the 
services  in  the  churches,  which  had  been  so  prepared  for 
holy  worship.  Accordingly,  at  a  meeting,  April  5, 1779, 
Uzal  Ogden,  the  warden  of  the  church,  was  requested  to 
write  to  his  son,  the  Rev.  Uzal  (afterward  Dr.)  Ogden,  to 
desire  him  to  visit  the  parish.  A  definite  invitation  was 
o^iven  to  Mr.  Ogden  in  November,  1785,  which  was  finally 
accepted  in  1788,  by  which  he  became  rector,  the  parish 
having  been  vacant  nine  or  ten  years.  During  that  time, 
however,  occasional  services  were  held  both  by  Mr.  Ogden, 
who  officiated  in  New-York,  and  Rev.  Abraham  Beach, 
\of  New-Brunswick.    Mr.  Op-den  continued  rector  of  the 


fhurch  till  1804  or  5,  nearly  20  years:  during  part  of 
this  period,  he  was  assisted  by  Rev.  Elijah  D.  Rattoone,' 
of  New-York,  and  the  Rev.  Walter  C.  Gardiner.  The 
connection  between  Mr.  Ogden  and  the  parish,  was 
finally  severed  in  consequence  of  unhappy  differences 
between  them,  that  interfered  materially  with  its  pros- 
perity for  many  years.  ^ 

The  Rev.  Joseph  Willard  was  elected  his  successor 
in  1806.  In  1807,  he  makes  report  to  the  Convention 
of  seventy  communicants :  but  at  no  subsequent  period 

'  Mr.  (afterwards  Dr.)  Rattoone  held  ble,  and  the  congregation  expressed  great 

al  this  time  the  chair  of  moral  philoso-  regret  at  his  departure, 
phy  in  Columbia  College,  New- York.  "  After  this  Mr.  O.  joined  the  Presby- 

His  ministrations  were  highly  accepta-  terian  denomination. 


39 

does  he  mention  their  number.  Mr.  Willard  was  not 
inattentive  to  the  interests  of  the  church  in  other  places. 
In  1808,  he  reported  to  the  Convention,  that  "he  had 
performed  divine  service  and  preached  twice  at  Mr.  Ben- 
jamin Williams',  Orange,  where  he  had  large  and  atten- 
tive congregations."  This  appears  to  have  been  the 
commencement  of  the  parish^  now  so  flourishing  under 
the  pastoral  care  of  the  Rev.  James  A.  Williams,  grandson 
to  the  zealous  churchman  in  whose  house — as  with  the 
church  in  that  of  Njmphas  among  the  Colossians^ — it 
was  nurtured  and  cherished. 

During  the  period  of  his  rectorship,  and  owing  to  his 
untiring  exertions,  with  the  earnest  and  faithful  co-ope- 
ration of  the  treasurer  and  building  committee,  the  house 
in  which  we  now  worship  was  erected,  in  place  of  the 
old  one.^  A  new  parsonage  was  built  about  the  same 
time.  The  building  committee  were  appointed  Easter- 
Monday,  April  3d,  1 809,  and  was  composed  of  the  follow- 
ing names:  "Mr.  Mercer,  Edward  Blackford,  Josiah 
James,  Thomas  Whitlock,  William  Halsey,  John  Craw- 
ford, and  Caleb  Sayres."  George  Nelson  was  then 
treasurer.  To  all  these  gentlemen  the  church  owes  a 
debt  of  deep  and  lasting  gratitude,  for  the  faithful  ser- 
vices by  which  the  present  large  and  substantial  building 
has  been  secured  to  them  and  their  children  for  ever.  ^ 

'  For  a  brief  history  of  this  parish,  *  Mr.  Josiah  James,  the  architect  of 
drawn  up  by  the  present  excellent  Rec-  the  building,  is  the  sole  survivor.  It  wil! 
tor,  see  Appendix  F.  long  stand  as  the  evidence  of  his  taste 
*  Col.  iv.  15.  and  skill.  The  building  is  of  hewn 
3  The  steeple  having  been  repaired  stone,  with  walls  2i  feet  in  thickness, 
some  years  before,  was  suffered  to  re-  It  is  88  feet  long,  by  61J  feet  wide.  The 
main,  in  consequence  of  its  exceeding  steeple  is  from  160  to  170  feet  high.  In- 
solidity,  and  is  now  probably  the  oldest  eluding  the  tower  and  portico,  the  build- 
structure  in  Newark,  Its  walls  are  five  ing  measures  102  fe«t. 
feet  thick,  at  least.  For  an  account  of  the  laying  of  the 


40 

Mr.  Willard  afterwards  removed  to  Marietta,  Ohio,  where 
he  probably  died.  The  congregation  did  not  increase 
under  his  ministrations,  but  rather  the  reverse ;  several 
famihes  having  withdrawn. 

About  this  time,  (1811,)  it  was  mutually  agreed  be- 
tween the  two  portions  of  the  parish,  Newark  and  Belle- 
ville, that  each  congregation  should  supply  themselves 
with  religious  services,  independently  of  the  other.  Mr. 
(now  Dr.)  Berrian,  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  New-York^ 
was  then  the  assistant  minister,  and  officiated  at  Belle- 
ville. It  was  not,  however,  until  Easter-Monday,  April 
20,  1835,  that  measures  were  adopted,  to  separate 
them.^  A  committee  was  then  appointed  to  obtain  an 
act  from  the  Legislature  for  that  purpose,  and  they  now^ 
constitute  two  separate  parishes.  The  members  of  the 
Vestry  necessary  to  supply  the  places  of  those  heretofore 
chosen  from  Belleville,  Vi^ere  elected  Monday,  2.3d  Nov, 
1835. 

The  Rev.  Lewis  P.  Bayard  was  elected  to  the  rectorship 
in  May,  1813.  Of  him  I  need  not  largely  speak,  for  there 
are  those  yet  living  among  us,  who  can  bear  witness  to 
his  abundant  and  self-denying  labours.  His  ministry  of 
seven  years  was  cherished  with  grateful  remembrance 
by  all  that  came  beneath  its  influence.  Without  the 
power  of  commanding  eloquence,  he  yet,  by  his  modesty 
and  kindness  of  heart,  and  zeal  in  his  Master's  cause, 


corner-stone  (May  22d,  1809),  and  of  '  There  was  at  this  time  a  harmoni- 
the  consecration  of  the  church  (May  21st,  ous  and  equitable  division  of  the  proper- 
1810),  see  Churchman's  Magazine  for  ty  of  the  church,  the  congregation  at 
those  years.  Belleville  receiving,  besides  the  church 
The  plate  and  the  beautiful  cloths  and  grounds  connected  therewith  at  that 
used  in  the  communion  service,  were  place,  $1500  in  cash,  in  lieu  of  all  fur- 
presented  in  1806  by  the  ladies  of  the  ther  claims  upon  the  congregation  at 
congregation.  Newark. — See  Appendix  G. 


41 

attracted  the  regard  and  won  the  affections  of  the  whole 
community.  The  number  of  communicants  was  increas- 
ed from  sixty-five  to  one  hundred  and  nine.  The  insuffi- 
ciency of  his  support  constrained  him  to  seek  another 
field  of  usefulness  in  1 820.  It  is  but  a  short  time  since 
that  he  rested  from  his  labours/  having  died  at  Malta, 
on  his  return  from  the  Holy  Land,  Sept.  2d,  1840. 

After  Dr.  Bayard,  the  Rev,  Henry  P.  Powers  became 
rector  of  the  church,  (June  3d,  1821,)  and  resigned  in 
1830.  The  incidents  of  this  period  are  comparatively 
recent;  I  need  not  therefore  dwell  upon  them.  With 
mental  powers  of  no  ordinary  kind,  and  a  talent  for  popu- 
lar eloquence,  there  were  yet  difficulties  that  interfered 
with  his  usefulness,  and  retarded  the  growth  of  the  con- 
gregation. Mr.  Powers  has  now  charge  of  the  congre- 
gation in  Ypsilanti,  Michigan,  where  he  labours  with 
acceptance  and  success. 

After  a  short  interval,  wherein  the  services  of  the 
church  were  supplied  by  Rev.  John  Croes,^  your  present 
rector  entered  upon  his  duties.  Since  that  time,  the  days 
are  no  longer  "of  o/f?,"  and  we  have  no  need  to  "ask 
om  fathers''''  concerning  them. 

I  cannot,  however,  suffer  the  opportunity  to  pass, 
without  expressing  my  grateful  sense  of  the  divine  bless- 
ing which  has  attended  my  labours :  our  little  band  has 
^'  become  a  thousand  ;"^  while  our  forty-seven  communi- 
cants, now  amount  to  near  two  hundred.  During  this 
period,  there  have  been  confirmed  two  hundred  and  thir- 
teen ;  baptized,  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  ;  commu- 

'  Dr.  Bayard  officiated  once   for  the  The  writer  is   so  informed  by  Andrew 

present  Rector  in    1839.     He  preached  Pareons,  Esq  ,  a  zealous  Churchman  of 

■in    various   places   in    the    surrounding  that  town, 
neighbourhood,  and  was  the  first  Episco-  *  Son  of  the  late  Bishop. 

pa.l  minister  who  officiated  in  Paterson.  ^  Isaiah  \x.  22. 


42 

nicants  added,  three  hundred  and  sixty ;  marriages,  one 
hundred  and  thirty.  As  to  its  external  prosperity,  "  our 
holy  and  beautiful  house,"  ^  to  use  the  prophet's  language, 
with  the  full  congregation  that  worship  within  its  walls, 
bears  this  day  abundant  witness.^  Another  large  parish,^ 
too,  well  organized  and  firmly  established  by  God's 
blessing  upon  the  labours  of  faithful  men,  helps  forward 
the  great  work,  while  a  third  is  needed  to  supply  our 
growing  wants. 

There  have  entered  the  ministry  from  this  congrega- 
tion also,  during  the  same  period,  the  following  persons  : 
Rev.  Solon  W.  Manney,  missionary  at  Laporte,  Indiana  ; 
Rev.  James  Adams,  of  Lambertsville,  New- Jersey  ;  Rev. 
Charles  H.  Halsey,  Rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Sing- 
Sing,  N.  Y. ;  Rev.  Andrew  B.  Paterson,  Rector  of  Trinity 
Church,  Princeton,  New-Jersey  ;  and  Rev.  David  Clark- 
son,  missionary  at  Knowlton  and  Belvidere,  New-Jersey. 
Charles  W.  Rankin,  a  member  of  the  congregation, 
is  now  preparing  for  the  ministry  in  the  Theological 
Seminary,  New- York. 

Nor  would  I  suffer  the  opportunity  to  pass  without 
further    expressing    my   deep   sense   of    the    manifold 

'  Isaiah  Ixiv.  11.  pion  of  her  distinctive  principles.     The 

-   About    six  thousand  dollars    have  Rev.  Anthony  Ten  Broeck  was  elected 

been   expended   on  the  church  building  his  successor,  in   1841  ;    Dr.  C.  having 

within  the  last  12  or  13  years.     In  that  been  obliged   to  relinquish   his  duties  in 

period,  about  eighteen  thousand  dollars,  consequence    of    impaired    sight — now 

including  the  above,  as  near  as  may  be  again      happily    restored.       Mr.    Ten 

estimated,  have  been  contributed  by  the  Broeck  resigned  in  1845,  and  the  parish 

congregation  towards  the  various  objects  is  yet  vacant.     Dr.  Chapman   officiates 

of   Christian  benevolence    or   parochial  at  present  in  Worcester,  Mass  ,  where 

interest.  ^^^  congregation  to  which  he  ministers 

■^  Grace    Church    was    organized    in  are  about  building  a  church.     !VIr.  Ten 

1837,  under  the   pastoral  care  of  Rev.  Broeck  has  established  a  classical  school. 

G.  T.    Chapman,  D.  D.,   well   known  of  a  high  order,  in  Orange, 
throughout  our  Church  as  an  able  cham- 


43 

kindness  which  I  have  ever,  my  beloved  parishioners, 
received  at  jour  hands.  Ye  have  made  allowance  for 
my  young  inexperience,^  for  I  was  but  a  boy  when  I  came 
among  you.  Ye  have  overlooked  my  many  faults.  Ye 
have  borne  with  my  "often  infirmities."  Ye  have  strength- 
ened me  in  my  hour  of  weakness.  Ye  have  comforted 
me  in  my  hour  of  sorrow.  Ye  have  stood  beside  my  sick 
and  dying  with  sympathy  and  with  love  :^  and  ye  have 
follow ed  my  dead,  with  mournful  steps  and  slow,  to  their 
last  resting-place — and  with  tender  hands  and  with  ten- 
derer hearts,  ye  have  laid  them  down — my  loved  ones — in 
their  own  selected  graves  to  rest.^  O,  that  bright  and 
beautiful  vision  I — how^  hath  it  passed  away ! — and  yet  its 
memory  lingers  around  my  heart.  It  remaineth  only  yet 
to  lay  me  down  beside  them,  when  the  time  shall  come; 
for  with  no  feigned  words  I  say  it — "Ye  are  in  my  heart, 
to  die  and  live  with  you."^  h 

In  this  brief  survey  of  the  history  oi  the  parish,  many 
thoughts  crowd  upon  the  mind.  That  history  strikingly 
illustrates  the  great  law  of  Christianity — the  law  of  love. 
"He  that  loves  God,  will  love  his  brother  also."  "He 
that  loveth  not  his  brother  whom  he  hath  seen,  how  can 
he  love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen  ?"^  The  true  Chris- 
tian heart  takes  in  all  its  kind.  Let  it  never  be  forgot- 
ten that  Newark  was  once  a  missionary  station.  The 
man  that  first ^  preached  the  Gospel  to  our  fathers,  and 

'  The  writer  was  ordained  only  a  few  A  beautiful  monument,  erected  by  the 

months  before  he  was  called  to  the  Rec-  congregation,  is  now  the   enduring  me- 

torship,  at  the   earliest  age  allowed  by  morial  of  his  bereavement  and  their  love. 

the  canon.     During  that  period   he  had  ••  Reference  is  made   here    to   some 

charge  of  St.  George's  Church,  New-  affecting  incidents  which  it   would  be 

York,  in  the  absence  of  the  Rector,  the  hardly  proper  to  introduce, 

lamented  Dr.  Milnor,  in  England.  *  2  Cor.  vii.  3. 

*  His   whole  family,  wife    and   five  ^  1  John  iv.  20. 

children,  have  been   removed  by  death.  ®  Of  course  reference  is  made  to  .EJpw- 


3 


44 

broke  to  them  the  bread  of  life,  was  sent  by  the  pious 
care  and  zeal  of  transatlantic  churchmen,  who  prizing 
the  precious  privileges  that  they  enjoyed  themselves,  felt 
it  their  bounden  duty  and  thek  highest  joy  to  extend 
those  privileges  to  others. 

"  And  shall  we  not  repay  this  debt. 
To  regions  solitary  yet, 
Within  our  spreading  land  V 

To  do  otherwise,  were  to  disown  our  paternity, — to 
be  recreant  to  our  faith — to  judge  ourselves  unworthy  of 
eternal  life.     "  He  that  loves  not,  lives  not."^ 

"  For  love  with  life,  is  heaven, — and  life  unloving,  hell."  '^ 

Again,  you  see  in  the  jealous  care  of  your  fathers  to 
preserve  inviolate  the  ordinances  of  the  church,  tJie  duty 
you  owe  your  children. 

Not  for  us  alone,  but  for  those  that  come  after,  hath 
this  precious  legacy  of  evangelic  truth  with  apostolic 
order,  come  down.  It  is  the  charter  of  our  hopes, — the 
guardian  of  our  liberties  for  all  time.  Shall  we  toil  then 
for  wealth  to  leave  our  children,  or  worldly  wisdom,  or 
power  to  make  them  great,  and  leave  them  without  that 
which  alone  can  sanctify  their  wealth,  or  make  them 
happy  in  their  greatness  ?  The  soul  must  have  a  home, 
whatever  the  circumstances  of  our  outward  state  ;  a  home 
of  private  sanctities  and  of  social  joys,  which  have  their 
sphere  "above  the  smoke  and  stir  of  this  dim  spot,"  and 
are  free  from  all  its  perturbations.    And  where  can  that 

copal  ministrations.     Newark  was  from  support  of  a  clergyman,  to  the  ringing  of 

the  first   a  religious  colony, — and  was  the  bell  and  sweeping  out  the  church. — 

probably  the  first  in  the  state  that  sup-  Town  Records. 

ported  a  minister  of  the  gospel.     The         '  Keble's  Christian  Year. 

great  business  of  the  town  meeting  was         "  Proverbial    Philosophy,   by    M.    F. 

to  make  all  necessary  arrangements  for  Tupper,a  work  that  should  have  a  place 

religious  services — from  the  calling  and  in  every  family  library. 


45 

home  be  found  but  in  the  church  of  God,  the  type  itself 
of  heaven — our  father's  house  and  home  for  ever.  In  its 
quiet,  peaceful  bosom,  is  a  sure  shelter  from  the  wildness 
of  fanatical  excitement, — as  well  as  a  safeguard  from  the 
coldness  of  a  mere  rationalism,  that  would  explain  away 
all  the  deep  mysteries  of  our  faith.  Cherish  then  the 
church  of  Christ  with  its  apostolic  ministry  and  divinely 
appointed  ordinances; — with  its  holy  services  and  time- 
honoured  forms  of  devotion,  which  have  been  in  "  the 
days  of  old,"  and  during  "  the  years  of  many  genera- 
tions." ^  Cherish  them,  not  only  as  your  own  chief  joy, 
but  as  your  children's  best  and  richest  legacy, — a  legacy, 
which  if  rightly  used,  will  make  them  "  rich  in  faith," 
and  heirs  of  God's  eternal  glory. 

Finally,  you  see  something  of  the  strong  ties  which 
hind  us  together,  England  and  America ;  the  fathers' 
home,  the  children's  birth-place.  We  are  indeed  but 
one.    Brothers  all,  from  the  same  old  Saxon  stock. 

"  0  Englnnd,  the  blood  that  warms 

The  heart  within  me,  had  its  source  in  thee."^ 

'   Among  other  helps  of  a  rational  and  Christmas,      Circumcision,     Epiphany, 

scriptural  devotion  the  arrangement  of  Good  Friday,  Easter,  Ascension,  Whit- 

ihe  services  of  the  church  according  to  Sunday,  Trinity  Sunday— from  the  Sa- 

the  course  of  the  ecclesiastical  year  holds  viour's    cradle    to  his   throne    in  glory, 

a  prominent  place  ;    by  which   all    the  where,  in  mystic  union  with  the  Father 

great  facts  and  doctrines  of  our  holy  re-  and  the  Son,  he  is  for  ever  seated.     How 

ligionare,  in  their  natural  order,  brought  simple!    how  beautiful !    how  natural ! 

before  the  minds  of  her  children.     Every  how  inspirintr ! 

man   who    constantly  attends   the    ser-  Yes,-if  the  inrensiUes  of  hope  and  fear 

vices,  must,  from  them  alone — including  Attract  us  still,  and  passionate  exercise 

the   large   portions   of    Holy   Scripture  Of  lofty  thoughts,  the  way  Lefore  us  lies 

appropriate  to    the  season  and  subject,  ■D'**''":^  «'''A«'5-«*' .-thro' which,  in  fixt  career 

1-1  ,  ,      ,  As  thro^  a  Zodiac,  moves  the  ritual  year 

which    are    always    read — have    some  nrp    i    j.     i      i      .        i  .    •     i 

Ul  J^ngland  s  church — stupendous  mysteries  I 

knowledge  of  the  true  systein  of  the  gos-  JVorcUworih. 

pel.     From  the  incarnation  of  Christ,  he         2  Poemg,  by  William  W.  Lord, 
is  led,  as  it  were,  step  by  step — Advent, 


46 

Our  language, — our  letters, — our  laws  ; — our  faith,  sealed 
with  martyrs'  blood,  and  forms  of  worship  radiant  with 
the  "  beauty  of  holiness ;" — our  church  herself,  with 
"  her  clothing  of  wrought  gold,"  whence  came  they  all, 
but  from  England, — old  England.  Who  can  wonder 
then,  that  our  hearts'  best  blood  should  curdle  and  thicken 
when  danger  threatens  our  good  understanding,* — or  war 
lifts  up  its  fearful  standard  ?  Who  can  wonder  that  a 
thrill  of  joy  should  meet  and  welcome  every  token  of 
abiding  peace?  "  Sirs,  ye  are  brethren."  Distant  then 
be  the  day  of  discord, — removed  for  ever  the  hour  of 
mutual  hate  and  deadly  battle.  England  and  Amer- 
ica !  O,  be  peace  your  spirit — "  perpetual  peace"  - 
your  mutual  blessing. 

'  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  ^  "  General  orders  issued  by  General 

reference  is  here  made  to  the  "  rumours  Washington''  upon  the  cessation  of  hos- 

of  war"    connected   with    the    Oregon  tilities. — Chatham,  April  18th,  1783. 

question. 


APPENDIX. 


A— p.  8. 

CHARTER  OF  THE  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,   NEWARK. 

'•George  the  Second,  by  the  Grace  of  God,  of  Great  Brittain, 
France  and  Ireland,  King.  Defender  of  the  Faith — To  all  to  whom  these 
presents  shall  come, Greeting :  Whereas  we,  on  the  humble  petition  of  our 
Loving  Subjects,  Edward  Vaughan,  late  Rector  of  Trinity  Church  at 
Newark,  John  Schuyler  and  Josiah  Ogden,  late  Church  Wardens,  and 
George  Lurting,  David  Ogden,  John  Ludlow,  David  Ogden,  Jun'r, 
William  Kingsland,  William  Turner,  George  Vrelandt,  Daniel  Pierson. 
Roger  Kingsland  and  Emanuel  Cocker,  Late  Vestrymen  of  said  Church, 
in  behalf  and  for  themselves  and  other  Inhabitants  of  Newark,  Second 
River,  New  Barbadoes  Neck  and  Acqwacknong,  in  the  Province  of 
New  Jersey,  to  our  Trusty  and  Well-Beloved  Lewis  Morris,  Esq'r. 
Deceased,  our  Late  Captain  General  and  Commander  in  Chiefe  of  our 
Province  of  New  Jersey  and  Territories  thereon  depending  in  America, 
and  Vice  Admiral  in  the  same,  &c. :  Setting  forth  that  they  had  Lately 
by  Voluntary  Contributions  Erected  and  Built  a  New  Church  in  the 
said  Town  of  Newark,  and  the  same  had  Dedicated  to  the  Service  and 
Worship  of  God,  according  to  the  Rites  and  Ceremonies  of  the  Church 
of  England  as  by  Law  Established,  by  the  name  of  Trinity  Church, 
which  Church  they  hold  and  enjoy.  Together  with  Parsonage  Lands 
in  said  Parish  ;  but  that  for  want  of  their  being  incorporated,  they  were 
not  Capable  of  recovering  or  .accepting  such  donations  as  pious  designed 
persons  were  or  may  be  dispos'd  to  give  unto  them ;  or  purchasing 
any  Lands  or  Tenements  for  the  use  of  said  Church,  or  Transacting 
and  Carrying  on  the  affairs  and  business  thereof  in  such  Advantageous 
and  Beneficial  a  manner  as  otherwise  they  might  do.     Wherefore,  to 


18 

the  end  said  Petitioners  and  their  Successors  might  be  secured  in  the 
Quiet  and  Peaceable  Possession  and  Enjoyment  of  said  Church  and 
Parsonage  Lands,  and  also  to  be  erected  and  made  a  body  Politick  and 
Corporate,  the  better  to  Manage  and  Carry  on  the  affairs  and  business 
of  said  Church  to  and  for  the  Glory  of  God  and  the  pious  Uses  intended 
thereby,  they  prayed  our  Royal  Grant  and  Confirmation  of  said  Church 
and  Parsonage  Lands,  and  that  they  and  all  the  Communicants  of  the 
said  Church  might  be  incorporated  into  a  Body  Politick  and  Corporate, 
in  deed,  fact  and  name,  by  the  Name  and  Stile  of  the  Rector,  Church 
Wardens  and  Vestrymen  of  Trinity  Church  at  Newark,  Elected  and 
Chosen  according  to  the  Canons  ot  the  Church  of  England  as  by  law 
established ;  and  that  as  such,  and  by  that  Name,  they  and  their  Suc- 
cessors might  have,  hold,  and  occupy  and  enjoy  all  the  Rights,  Benefits 
and  Advantages,  Priviledges,  Immunities  and  Appurtenances  as  are 
usually  held  and  enjoyed  by  any  Parochial  Church  within  the  Realm 
of  England ;  did,  by  our  letters  patent  under  the  Great  Seal  of  our 
Province  of  New  Jersey,  bearing  date  at  Kingsbury,  the  fourth  of  Feb- 
ruary, in  the  nineteenth  year  of  our  Reign,  grant  to  said  Petitioners 
and  their  Successors  the  prayer  of  said  Petition,  and  also  Certain  Pri- 
viledges, Clauses,  Articles,  and  things  therein  mentioned,  as  by  said 
Letters  pattent  remaining  on  the  publick  Records  of  the  Province  of 
New  Jersey  at  Perth  Amboy,  in  book  No.  2  of  Commissions,  page  105 
to  110  Inclusive,  may  fully  appear.  And  whereas,  by  the  humble  pe- 
tition of  our  loving  Subjects,  Isaac  Brown,  the  present  Rector  of  said 
Church,  John  Schuyler  and  Josiah  Ogden,  the  present  Church  War- 
dens of  said  Church,  and  William  Kingsland,  David  Ogden,  Junior, 
John  Ludlow,  Daniel  Pierson,  George  Vrelandt,  William  Turner.  Roger 
Kingsland,  Emanuel  Cocker  and  Richard  Broadberry,  the  Major  Part  of 
the  Vestrymen  of  said  Church,  in  behalf  of  themselves  and  other  In- 
habitants of  Newark,  Second  River,  New  Barbadoes  Neck,  and  Ac- 
quacknong  aforesaid,  presented  to  our  Trusty  and  well  Beloved  John 
Hamilton  Esq'r,-President  of  our  Council  and  Commander  in  Chief  of  our 
Province  of  New  Jersey,  that  there  Avere  several  Words,  or  Sentences, 
Clauses  and  Expressions  unhappily  and  through  Mistake  Inserted  and 
mentioned  in  the  above  in  part  recited  Letters  pattent,  which  would  prove 
hurtfull  and  injurious  to  the  Interest,  Welfare  and  prosperity  of  said 
Church  and  Congregation,  which  were  Intended  to  be  promoted  and  ad- 
vanced thereby.  Wherefore  the  same  petitioners  Last  aforesaid,  humbly 
prayed  that  we  would  Revoke,  Annul  and  make  Void  the  same  Letters 
pattent  aforesaid,  and  would  also  grant  these  our  Letters  pattent  for  the 
interest,  welfare,  advantage  and  prosperity  of  said  Church  and  Con- 
gregation. Now  KNOW  YEE,  that  we  have  revoked,  determined,  annulled 
and  made  void,  and  by  these  presents  Do  revoke,  determine,  annul  and 
make  void  the  above  said  in  part  recited  Letters  pattent.  and  every 


49 

Clause.  Article  and  thing  therein  Contained.  And  farther,  know  ye, 
that  being  Willing  to  giv^e  all  due  Encouragement  and  promotion  to 
the  pious  Intentions  of  our  said  Last  petitioners  aforesaid,  and  to  grant 
their  request  in  that  behalf,  we,  of  our  Especial  Grace,  Certain  Know- 
ledge and  mere  Motion,  have  made,  Ordained,  Constituted  and  De- 
clared, and  by  these  presents,  for  us,  our  heirs  and  Successors,  do  make, 
Ordain,  Constitute  and  Declare,  that  the  said  Isaac  Brown,  John 
Schuyler,  Josiah  Ogden,  David  Ogden,  Jolm  Ludlow,  David  Ogden, 
Jun'r,  William  Kingsland,  William  Turner,  George  Vrelandt,  Daniel 
Pierson,  Roger  Kingsland,  Emanuel  Cocker  and  Richard  Broadberry, 
and  the  rest  of  the  Congregation  of  the  Church,  Inhabitants  of  Newark, 
Second  River,  New  Barbadoes  Neck,  and  Acquacknong  aforesaid,  be, 
and  they  and  their  Successors  shall  be,  from  time  to  time,  and  at  all 
times  forever  hereafter,  a  body  Corporate  and  politick,  in  deed,  fact  and 
name,  by  I  he  name  and  stile  of  the  Rector,  Church  Wardens  and  Ves- 
trymen of  Trinity  Church  at  Newark,  Elected  and  chosen  according  to 
the  canons  of  the  Church  of  England  as  by  Law  Established  our  Body 
Corporate  and  PoHtick,  in  deed,  fact  and  name,  really  and  fully,  we  do, 
for  our  heirs  and  successors,  Erect,  make,  Constitute,  Declare,  and 
Create,  by  these  presents;  and  that  by  the  same  name  they  and  their 
Successors  shall  and  may  have  perpetual  succession,  and  shall  and  may 
be  persons  able  and  capable  in  the  Law  to  Sue  and  be  Sued,  to  Implead 
and  be  Impleaded,  to  Answer  and  be  Answered  unto,  to  Defend  and  be 
Defended,  in  all  Courts  and  Elsewhere,  in  all  and  singular  Suits,  Causes, 
Q,uarrels,  Matters,  Actions,  Demands,  and  things  of  what  nature  and 
kind  soever ;  and  also  that  they  and  their  Successors,  by  the  same 
name,  be,  and  shall  be  forever  hereafter.  Capable  and  able  in  Law  to 
take,  accept,  have,  hold  and  enjoy,  in  fee,  for  Life  or  Lives,  for  Year  or 
Years,  or  in  any  other  manner,  any  Messuages,  Buildings,  Lands, 
Tenements,  Hereditaments,  Given,  Granted,  Bargain'd  or  sold  by  any 
former  Gifts,  Grants,  Sale,  or  Patent,  or  by  any  other  ways  or  means 
whatsoever,  to  any  person  or  persons  whomsoever,  for  the  use  of  the 
parsonage  for  the  Town  of  Newark  aforesaid  ;  and  to  bring  suit  or  suits 
in  all  Courts  and  Elsewhere,  for  the  Recovering  and  obtaining  the 
Same  by  all  Lawful  Means  whatsoever ;  and  also  that  they  and  their 
Successors,  by  the  same  name  aforesaid,  be,  and  shall  be  forever  here- 
after, Capable  in  Law  to  Take,  Accept  of,  acquire  and  purchase,  Re- 
ceive, have,  hold  and  Enjoy,  in  fee  "forever,  or  for  Life  or  Lives,  or  for 
Year  or  Years,  or  in  any  other  manner,  any  Messuage,  Buildings, 
Houses,  Lands,  Tenements,  and  Real  Estates,  and  all  or  any  part  of 
the  Messuages,  Buildings,  Houses,  Lands,  Tenements,  Hereditaments, 
and  Premises  aforesaid,  to  Lease  for  one  or  more  Years,  or  to  Grant, 
alien,  Bargain,  sell  and  Dispose  of  for  Life  or  Lives,  or  in  fee  simple, 
under  certain  yearly  Rents ;  and  also  to  accept  of  and  take,  possess  and 


) 


50 

purchase,  any  Goods.  Chattels,  or  personal  Estate,  and  the  same  to  hire. 
!et,  sell,  or  Dispo.se  at  their  will  and  pleasure :  and  all  this  as  fully  as 
any  other  Corporation  or  Body  Politick  within  our  Kingdom  of  England, 
or  this  our  Province  of  New  Jersey,  may  lawfully  do.  Provided,  that 
such  Messuages  and  Real  Estates  as  they  or  their  Successors  shall 
have,  or  may  be,  or  are  Entitled  unto,  shall  not  at  any  time  Exceed  the 
yearly  Rent  of  two  hundred  pounds  Lawful  money  of  Great  Brittain. 
over  and  above  the  said  Church,  and  Ground  on  which  the  same  stands, 
and  Parsonage  lands,  heretofore  Given,  Granted,  or  Patenteed  to  said 
Town  of  Newark,  for  the  use  of  the  parsonage  of  said  Town ;  and  fur- 
ther, we  do  will  and  Grant,  that  the  said  Rector  and  Congregation,  and 
their  Successors,  shall,  and  may,  forever  hereafter,  have  a  Common 
Seal,  to  serve  and  use  for  all  matters,  Causes,  things  and  affairs  what- 
soever, of  them  and  their  Successors,  and  full  power  and  authority  to 
Break,  Alter,  Change,  and  newmake  the  same,  or  any  other  Common 
Seal,  from  time  to  time,  at  their  will  and  pleasure,  as  they  shall  think  fit ; 
and  further,  we  will  and  ordain,  and  by  these  presents,  for  us,  our  heirs 
and  Successors,  declare  and  appoint,  that  for  the  better  ordering  and 
managing  the  affairs  and  business  of  the  said  Corporation,  there  shall  be 
one  Rector,  or  Parochial  Minister  of  the  Church  of  England,  as  by  Law 
Established,  duly  ordained  for  the  Cure  of  Souls,  Two  Church  War- 
dens, and  Ten  Vestrymen,  from  time  to  time.  Constituted,  Elected  and 
Chosen  in  manner  and  form  as  is  hereafter  in  these  presents  Expressed  ; 
which  Vestrymen,  or  the  greatest  part  of  them,  and  the  Two  Church 
Wardens,  or  one  of  them,  together  with  the  Rector  for  the  time  being, 
shall  apply  themselves  to  take  care  for  the  best  obtaining,  recovering, 
disposing.  Governing  and  ordering  the  General  business  and  affairs  of  and 
concerning  said  Church,  and  all  such  Lands,  Tenements,  Hereditaments. 
Real  and  personal  Estate  as  now  do  belong  to  the  parsonage  aforesaid,  or 
shall  or  may  be  hereafter  uacqired  as  aforesaid.     And  for  the  better  ex- 
ecution of  our  Royal  will  and  pleasure  herein.  We  Do,  for  us,  our  heirs,  and 
Successors,  assign,  name,  constitute  and  Confirm  the  said  Isaac  Brown 
to  be  the  present  Rector  or  Parochial  Minister  of  the  said  Church,  for 
and  during,  and  until  another  Minister  by  the  Church  Wardens  and 
Vestrymen,  or  the  major  part  of  them  for  the  time  being,  shall  be  elected, 
chosen  and  appointed  in  his  room ;  and  that  on  the  death  or  Removal 
of  the  said  Isaac  Brown,  the  said  Church  Wardens  and  Vestrymen  of 
said  Church,  or  the  Major  part  of  them  for  the  time  being,  shall,  from 
time  to  time,  in  Case  of  a  Vacancy  of  a  Minister  in  said  Church,  have 
the  right  of  Calling,  and  Receiving,  and  Accepting  such  Minister  of 
the  Church  of  England  as  by  Law  Established,  to  be  Minister  of  said 
Church,  as  they  shall  think  fit ;  and  the  said  John  Schuyler  and  Josiah 
Ogden  to  be  the  present  Church  Wardens  of  the  said  Church  ;  and  the 
i-aid  David  Ogden.  John  Ludlow,  David  Ogden,  Junior,  William  Kings- 


51 

land,  William  Turner,  George  Vrelandt.  Daniel  Picrson,  Roger  Kings- 
land,  Emanuel  Cocker,  and  Richard  Broadberry,  to  be  the  present  Ves- 
trymen of  the  said  Church ;  which  said  Church  Wardens  and  Vestry- 
men are  to  Continue  in  the  said  several  offices  till  Monday  in  Easter 
Week  next  Ensuing,  or  untill  others  be  chosen  in  their  Room,  in 
such  manner  as  is  hereinafter  expressed;  and  further,  We  Do  will. 
and  by  these  presents,  for  us,  our  heirs  and  Successors,  do  ordain, 
appoint  and  direct,  that  the  Rector  of  said  Church  for  the  time  being 
shall  and  may  from  time  to  time,  upon  all  occasions,  Assemble  and  Call 
together  the  said  Church  Wardens,  or  one  of  them,  and  Vestrymen  for 
the  time  being,  or  the  greater  Number  of  them,  to  Consult,  Advise,  do 
and  perform  the  Business  and  affairs  of  the  said  Church,  and  of  and 
Concerning  the  premises  aforesaid,  and  to  hold  Vestry's  for  that  Pur- 
pose ;  and  in  case  of  the  Death  of  the  Minister  of  said  Church,  or  his 
refusal,  on  fifteen  days'  Notice  being  given  to  the  Rector  of  said  Church 
(or  the  time  being  by  one  of  the  Church  Wardens  and  three  of  the 
Vestrymen  at  Least,  of  the  time  and  place  for  holding  a  Vestry  Meeting, 
then,  in  either  of  such  Cases,  During  such  Death  or  Refusal,  the  Church 
Wardens  for  the  time  being,  or  one  of  them,  may  Call  and  hold  such  Ves- 
trys,  and  do  and  perform  in  such  Vacancy  or  Refusal,  and  not  otherways, 
every  matter  and  thing  relating  to  the  premises,  as  if  done  by  and  with 
the  order,  Consent  and  approbation  of  the  Rector  of  said  Church. 
And  further,  our  will  and  pleasure  is,  and  we  do,  for  us,  our  heirs  and 
Successors,  Establish,  appoint,  and  direct,  that  the  Choice,  as  well  of 
Vestrymen  as  of  the  Church  Wardens  for  the  said  Church,  shall  be 
annual,  and  that  Yearly,  once  in  the  Year  forever,  that  is  to  say,  on 
Monday  in  Easter  week  in  every  Year,  at  the  Said  Church,  in  the 
Manner  following,  (to  wit,)  that  the  Rector  for  the  time  being  shall  ap- 
point one  of  the  Congregation  of  said  Church  to  be  one  of  the  Church 
Wardens,  and  the  Congregation  of  said  Church,  or  the  Major  part  of 
them  then  present,  shall  Elect,  Chuse,  and  appoint  one  other  of  the 
Congregation  of  said  Church  to  be  the  other  Church  Wardt-.n,  and 
Ten  other  of  the  Congregation  of  said  Church  to  be  Vestrymen  for  the 
Ensuing  Year ;  which  Church  Wardens  and  Vestrymen,  so  Chosen, 
and  hereafter  to  be  Chosen,  shall  Immediately  Enter  upon  their  Res- 
pective offices,  from  the  respective  times  they  shall  be  Chosen,  until 
other  fit  persons  be  respectively  Elected  in  their  stead  and  places ,;  and 
shall,  and  by  these  presents,  have  full  power  and  Lawful  Authority  to 
do,  execute  and  perform  their  several  and  Respective  offices,  in  as  full 
and  Ample  a  Manner  as  any  Church  Wardens  or  Vestrymen  in  that 
part  of  Great  Brittain  Called  England,  or  this  our  province,  have,  or 
lawfully  may  do.  And  if  it  shall  happen  that  any  or  either  of  them, 
the  said  Church  Wardens  or  ten  Vestrymen,  so  to  be  Annually  Elected, 
shall  die  or  be  removed,  or  deny.  Refuse,  or  Neglect  to  officiate  in  the 


52 

said  Respective  offices  of  Church  Wardens  and  Vestrymen,  before 
Either  of  their  time  for  serving  therein  be  expired,  then,  in  every  such 
Case,  it  sliall  and  may  be  Lawful  to  and  for  the  Congregation  of  said 
Church  for  the  time  being,  or  the  Major  part  of  them,  to  proceed  in 
Manner  aforesaid  and  make  a  New  Election  of  one  or  more  of  their 
Congregation  in  the  stead  and  place  of  such  officer  or  officers  so  dying, 
or  Removing,  or  denying,  Refusing,  or  Neglecting  to  officiate  in  his  or 
their  respective  office  as  aforesaid,  and  so  as  often  as  the  Case  shall  happen 
or  Require:  and  further,  our  will  and  Pleasure  is,  and  we  do  hereby 
Direct  and  appoint  that  one  of  the  said  Church  Wardens,  and  five  of 
said  Vestrymen,  shall  be  Elected  and  Chosen  out  of  the  Congregation 
of  said  Church.  Living  and  residing  in  Newark  aforesaid,  to  the  south- 
ward of  the  brook,  or  River,  called  Second  River,  and  the  other  Church 
Warden  and  other  five  Vestrymen  to  be  Elected  and  Chosen  out  of  the 
Congregation  of  said  Church,  Living  and  residing  on  New  Barbadoes 
Neck,  or  to  the  Northward  of  said  Brook  or  River.  And  our  further 
Will  and  Pleasure  is,  that  it  shall  and  may  be  Lawfull,  to  and  tor  the 
present,  or  any  other  succeeding  Rector  of  the  said  Church,  by  and 
with  the  A4yice  and  Consent  of  the  Church  Wardens  for  the  time 
being,  or  one  of  them,  and  by  and  with  the  Advice  and  Consent  of  the 
Vestrymen  for  the  time  being,  or  the  Major  part  of  them,  in  Vestry,  to 
Nominate  and  appoint  a  Clark,  Sexton,  or  Bellringer,  to  and  for  the 
said  Church,  also  a  Clark  and  Messenger  to  serve  the  said  Vestry  at 
their  Meetings,  and  such  other  under  officers  as  they  shall  stand  in  need 
of,  to  remain  in  their  Respective  Offices  so  long  as  the  said  Rector,  or 
Church  Wardens  and  Vestry  for  the  time  being,  or  the  major  part  of 
them,  shall  think  fit.  And  Wee  do  further,  of  our  Especial  Grace, 
Certain  Knowledge,  and  meer  motion,  Give  and  Grant  unto  the  said 
Rector  and  Congregation,  and  to  their  Successors  forever,  that  the 
Rector,  Church  Wardens,  or  one  of  them,  and  Vestrymen  of  the  said 
Church  for  the  time  being,  or  the  Major  part  of  them  in  Vestry,  shall  have, 
and  have  hereby  given  and  Granted  unto  them,  full  power  and  Authority 
from  time  to  time,  and  at  all  times  hereafter,  to  make.  Ordain  and  Con- 
stitute such  Rules,  Orders  and  Ordinances  for  the  good  discipline  and 
order  of  the  Members  of  said  Church  and  Corporation,  as  they,  or  the 
Major  part  of  them,  shall  think  fit;  so  that  those  Rules,  and  Orders, 
and  Ordinances,  be  not  repugnant  to  the  Laws  of  that  part  of  our 
Kingdom  of  Great  Brittain  Called  England,  or  of  this  our  Province,  but 
as  Near  as  maybe  thereto;  which  Rules,  Orders  and  Ordinances  shall 
be.  from  time  to  time,  firmly  entered  in  a  book  or  books  to  be  kept  for 
that  purpose.  And  further  Know  Yee,  that  we,  of  our  more  abun- 
dant Grace,  Certain  Knowledge,  and  meer  Motion,  have  given.  Granted, 
Ratified  and  Confirmed,  and  by  these  presents,  for  us,  our  Heirs  and 
Successors,  do  Give,  Grant,  Ratify  and  Confirm,  unto  the  said  Rector 


53 


and  Congregation  of  said  Trinity  Church,  and  their  Successors,  all 
that  the°said  Church,  and  Ground  on  which  the  same  stands,  and 
which  doth  belong  to  the  same,  containing  in  the  whole  one  half  Acre 
of  Land,  TO  Have  and  to  Hold  all  and  singular  the  Premises  aforesaid, 
with  the  privilidges  and  appurtenances  aforesaid,  unto  them,  the  said 
Rector  and  Congregation  of  Trinity  Church  at  Newark  in  New  Jersey, 
and  their  Successors,  for  their  only  proper  use  and  behoof  forever,  to 
be  holden  of  us,  our  heirs  and  Successors,  in  fee  and  Common  Socage, 
as  of  our  manor  of  East  Greenwich  in  our  County  Kent,  within  that 
part  of  our  Kingdom  of  Great  Brittain  Called  England,  Yielding, 
rendering,  and  paying  therefor.  Yearly,  and  every  Year  forever,  unto 
us,  our  heirs  and  Successors,  on  the  feast  of  the  Annunciation  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  at  Newark  aforesaid,  the  Annual  Rent  of  six 
pence  Curre'nt  money  of  our  said  Province,  in  Lieu  and  Stead  of  all 
other  Rents,  Dues,  Duties  and  Services,  Claims  and  Demands  whatso- 
ever, for  the  premises.  And  Lastly,  we  do,  for  us,  our  Heirs  and 
Successors,  Ordain  and  Grant,  unto  the  said  Rector  and  Congregation 
of  Trinity  Church  at  Newark  in  New  Jersey,  and  their  Successors,  by 
these  presents,  that  this  our  Grant  shall  be  Firm,  Good,  Effectual  and 
Available  in  all  things  in  the  Law,  to  all  Intents,  Constructions,  and 
Purposes  whatsoever,  according  to  our  true  Intent  and  Meaning  herein 
before  declared ;  and  shall  be  Construed,  Reputed  and  Adjudged,  in  all 
Causes,  most  favourable  on  the  behalf  and  for  the  best  benefit  and  be- 
hoof of  the  said  Rector  and  Congregation  of  said  Trinity  Church  at 
Newark  in  New  Jersey,  and  their  Successors,  although  express  Mention 
of  the  Yearly  Value  or  Certainty  of  the  Premises,  or  any  of  them,  in 
these  presents  is  or  are  not  named,  or  any  Statute,  Ordinance,  Pro- 
vision, Proclamation  or  Restriction  heretofore  Made,  Enacted,  Or- 
dained or  Provided,  or  any  other  Matter,  Cause,  or  thing,  to  the  Con- 
trary notwithstanding.  In  Testimony  whereof,  we  have  Caused  these 
our  Letters  to  be  made  Pattent,  and  the  Great  Seal  of  our  Province  of 
New  Jersey  to  be  hereunto  affixed,  and  the  same  to  be  entered  on  record 
in  our  Secretaries'  office  of  our  said  Province  of  New  Jersey,  at  our 
City  of  Perth  Amboy,  in  one  of  the  books  of  Records  there  remaining. 
Witness,  our  said  Trusty  and  Well  Beloved  John  Hamilton,  Esquire, 
President  of  our  Council  and  Commander  in  Chiefe  of  our  said  Province 
of  New  Jersey,  at  Perth  Amboy,  this  Tenth  Day  of  February,  in  the 
Twentieth  Year  of  our  Reign,  and  in  the  Year  of  our  Lord  one  thou- 
sand seven  hundred  and  forty-six :  1746-7." 

(  '^e^  )  ^  "  READ." 

]  of  the  [ 
(  Prov.  ) 


54 

"  The  within  Charter  is  Recorded  in  the  Secretary's  Office  at  Perth 
Amboy,  in  Book  C,  No.  2  of  Commissions,  &c.,  pages  142  to  149,  in- 
clusive.    Examined  by  me." 

"  THOS.  BARTOW,  Sec'ry." 


B.— p.  11. 

I  KNOW  not  that  I  can  better  illustrate  the  important  services  of  the 
Society,  and  th€  character  of  the  men  whom  they  sent  out  as  their 
Missionaries,  than  by  a  brief  reference  to  one,  who, — though  labouring 
in  another  province,  yet  by  reason  of  his  relation  to  me  and  mine  as  well 
as  of  the  stirring  events  of  the  period  of  his  ministrations,  one  of  the 
most  deeply  interesting  of  our  colonial  history, — may  not  unfitly  be  se- 
lected by  me,  at  such  a  time,  for  such  a  purpose. 

In  January,  1755,  Thomas  Barton,  who  had  been  for  two  years 
assistant  tutor  in  the  Academy  of  Pennsylvania,  in  Philadelphia,  went 
to  England  with  ample  testimonials,  from  professors  in  the  college  and 
others,  as  to  his  qualification  for  the  holy  office  of  the  Ministry,  and  a 
request  from  the  inhabitants  of  Huntington,  Pa.,  that  he  might  be  ap- 
pointed their  Missionary.  Having  been  ordained,  he  was  sent  back  as 
itinerant  Missionary  to  the  Counties  of  York  and  Cumberland.  His 
public  ministrations  were  divided  at  first  between  Huntington,  Carlisle, 
and  York. 

"  Upon  hearing,"  I  quote  one  of  his  own  letters,  preserved  in 
Hawkins'  Historical  Notices  of  the  Missions  of  the  Church,  recently 
published  in  England, — "  that  within  the  limits  of  my  mission  there 
were  large  numbers  of  the  communion  of  the  church  of  England  in 
the  settlements  of  Canogoehieg,  Shippensburg,  Sheerman's  Valley, 
West  Penns-Borough  and  Marsh  Creek,  I  determined  to  visit  each  of 
these  places  four  times  a  year,  to  prepare  them  for  the  Sacrament  of 
the  Lord's  Supper,  and  to  baptize  their  children." 

"  I  had,"  he  adds,  "  the  pleasure  to  see  my  hearers  increase  daily, 
amounting  to  such  a  number  in  a  few  weeks  at  Huntington,  that 
I  have  been  sometimes  obliged  to  preach  under  the  cover  of  the  trees. 
And  when  it  was  my  turn  at  Carlisle,  I  am  told,  that  people  came  forty, 
fifty,  and  some,  sixty  miles." — O  how  rich  a  service— at  such  a  cost ! 


55 

How  near  to  Heaven  must  they  be,  who  go  so  far  on  earth  for  such  a 
purpose  ! — Alas,  that  men  should  view  God's  worship  a  matter  of  mere 
convenience,  or  personal  ease,  or  arbitrary  humour  ! — Alas,  that  they 
should  doze  away  in  sleepy  idleness,  the  precious  hours  of  God's  own 
appointed  Sabbath,  wherein  the  prayers  and  the  praises  of  assembled 
saints  rise  like  holy  incense  up  to  Heaven  ! — Alas,  that  even  Christian 
men  should  put  a  slight  on  this  great  ordinance  of  God  for  their  own  sal- 
vation, and  stay  at  home  and  read  a  pious  book,  or  sleep  perchance  over 
its  soothing  pages,  when  the  Gospel  is  preached  according  to  Christ's 
own  ordinance  at  their  very  doors  ! 

Mr.  Barton's  position,  in  the  extreme  west  of  the  English  settle- 
ments, naturally  led  him  to  form  some  acquaintance  with  the  "  nations 
of  savages"  inhabiting  those  regions.  Some  of  them  came  down  the 
Ohio  to  Carlisle,  to  dispose  of  their  furs  and  deer  skins.  With  these 
he  took  pains  to  ingratiate  himself;  and  was  "  big  with  hopes  of  being 
able  to  do  service  among  these  tawny  people,"  when  news  was  re- 
ceived of  the  disastrious  defeat  of  General  Braddock.  This  melan- 
choly event  was  soon  succeeded  by  an  alienation  of  the  Indians,  and  a 
large  portion  of  five  counties  was  depopulated  and  laid  waste,  through 
their  savage  cruelty  ;  some  hundreds  of  her  steadiest  sons  having  cither 
been  murdered  or  carried  into  barbarous  captivity. 

•'  At  a  time  of  such  public  calamity  and  distress,  you  may  easily 
conceive,"  he  says,  "  what  must  be  my  situation,  whose  fortune  it  was 
to  have  my  residence  in  a  place  where  these  grievances  were  felt 
most.  ...  It  is  but  a  little  time  since  these  counties  were  first  erected. 
They  were  chiefly  settled  by  poor  people,  who  were  not  able  to  pur- 
chase lands  in  the  interior  part  of  the  country.  Many  of  them  were 
eo  low  at  first,  that  two  families  were  generally  obliged  to  join  in  fitting 
out  one  plough."— That  district  is  now  one  of  the  wealthiest  of  the 
state. — The  condition  of  the  inhabitants,  especially  of  Cumberland, 
became  at  this  time  truly  deplorable.  Wandering  about  without  bread 
to  eat,  or  a  house  in  which  to  shelter  themselves  from  the  weather,  the 
sorely  stricken  families  had  no  time  to  weep  even  for  their  dearest 
dead. — "  Since  I  sat  down,"  says  Mr.  Barton,  to  write  this  letter,  '•  1 
have  received  accounts  that  a  poor  family,  who  had  fled  for  refuo-e  into 
this  country  about  six  months  ago — finding  they  could  not  subsist, 
chose,  a  few  days  ago,  to  run  the  risk  of  returning  home  to  enjoy  the 
fruits  of  their  labor ;  where  they  had  not  time  to  unload  their  cart,  be- 
fore they  were  seized  by  Indians  and  murdered."  "  Carlisle,"  he 
adds,  "  is  the  only  remains  of  that  once-populous  country.  ...  I  offi- 
ciate sometimes  in  a  barn,  and  sometimes  in  a  waste-house  or  whatever 
else  convenience  offers."  j 


56 


In  this  difficult  position,  Mr.  B.  was  obliged  to  organize  his  people 
for  defence  against  the  French  and  Indians  ;  and  his  services  were  so 
valuable  to  the  country,  that  he  was  thus  mentioned  in  a  letter  from  Phila- 
delphia, to  Mr.  Penn,  the  proprietary.  "  Mr.  B.  deserves  the  commen- 
dations of  all  lovers  of  their  country ;  for  he  has  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  his  congregations  and  marched  either  by  night  or  by  day  on  every 
alarm.  Had  others  imitated  his  example,  Cumberland  would  not  have 
wanted  men  enough  to  defend  it ;  nor  has  he  done  any  thing  in  the 
military  way,  but  what  hath  increased  his  character  for  piety,  and  that 
of  a  sincerely  religious  man  and  zealous  minister.'"  In  1758,  the 
young  men  within  his  Mission  offered  to  take  up  arms  in  defence  of 
their  country,  and  join  General  Forbes'  army,  "  if  Mr.  B.  would  go 
with  them  as  their  Minister."  He  was  absent  on  this  occasion,  but  a 
short  time  from  his  ordinary  duties.  Five  years  afterwards,  his 
churches  were  crowded  with  people,  some  from  a  great  distance. 

Mr.  B.'s  Missionary  field  was  now  somewhat  changed.  It  com- 
prised, as  he  writes  in  1764,  the  whole  of  Lancaster  county,  part  of 
Chester,  and  part  of  Berks.  The  circumference  of  his  stated  Mission 
only  being  thus  two  hundred  miles.  He  had  churches  in  Lancaster, 
Caernaroon  and  Pequea,*^  which  no  weather  prevented  him  from  visiting. 


'  Mr.  Barton  was  not  the  only  cler- 
(gyman  of  the  Church  of  England  who 
took  part  in  military  affairs.  Dr.  Camm, 
of  Virginia,  at  the  time  of  the  Revolution 
being  a  strong"  Whig,"  and  a  man  of 
wealth,  raised  and  equipped  a  troop  of 
horse,  and  connnanded  it  during  the 
war.  At  its  close  he  resigned  his  com- 
mission in  the  army,  returned  to  his  par- 
ish, and  died  its  rector. 

*  The  writer's  ancestors  were  among 
the  first  members  of  this  old  parish, 
which  dates  its  origin  from  about  the 
same  time  as  Trinity  Church,  Newark. 
Rev.  Mr.  Backhouse,  Missionary  at 
Chester,  began  to  collect  a  congregation 
here  about  the  year  1728  or  '29.  In 
173.3  the  congregation  was  very  large, 
and  he  had  baptized  fifty  children  in  the 
course  of  the  year.  The  first  church — 
probably  a  log  building — was  erected 
about  1730.  In  1729,  "eight  or  ten 
thousand  souls  from  Ireland "  had  set- 
tled in  the  province.     Mr.  B.  officiated 


here  from  time  to  time,  till  his  death  in 
1750.  Mr.  Craig,  itinerant  missionary, 
visited  the  parish  in  1751.  His  chief 
place  of  residence  was  at  Lancaster, 
where  "  thirty  families  had  begun  to 
build  a  church  "  in  1746.  Mr.  C.  re- 
signed charge  of  the  parish  in  1757, 
when  he  was  transferred  to  Chester. 
Mr.  Barton  removed  to  Lancaster  in 
1759,  at  which  time,  also,  he  took  charge 
of  the  congregation  in  Pequea.  "  A 
church  of  stone "  was  finished  here  in 
1762,  of  which  the  corner-stone  had 
been  laid  in  1753.  This  building  has, 
within  a  few  years,  given  place  to  one 
still  larger  and  more  substantial.  Rev. 
Messrs.  Heath,  Joseph  Clarkson,  both 
deceased  ;  Wm.  A.  Muhlenburg,  D.  D., 
of  N.  Y.  ;  Samuel  Bowman,  D.  D  ,  of 
Lancaster,  Pa.  ;  I.  B.  Clemson,  of 
Westchester,  Pa. ;  R.  U.  Morgan,  D.D., 
of  Reading,  Pa.  ;  Ed.  Y.  Buchanan,  of 
Paradise,  Pa.,  have  officiated  there  since 
the    Revolution.      Henry    TuUidge,   of 


"  The  Catechetical  instructions  to  my  young  people,  are  never  omit- 
ted. .  .  .  Besides  these  stated  duties,  I  am  often  called  ten,  fifteen  or 
twenty  miles,  to  assist  the  sick,  bury  the  dead,  &c.,  which  greatly  adds 
to  my  fatigue."  His  health  then  began  somewhat  to  fail  him ;  but  that 
did  not  prevent  him  from  visiting  at  times  the  Churches  of  New  London 
and  Whiteclay  Creek,— the  one  at  a  distance  of  thirty-five  miles,  the 
other  more  than  fifty,— besides  other  places,  to  make  known  the  truths 
and  administer  the  ordinances  of  the  Gospel. 

Such  was  the  man,  who,— counting  not  his  life  dear  unto  him,  that 
he  might  finish  his  course  with  joy.  and  the  Ministry  which  he  had  re- 
ceived of  the  Lord  Jesus,— laboured  as  Missionary  and  Rector  in  the 
Parish  where  I  was  born  and  baptized.'  In  the  principles  which  he 
taught  of  "Evangelic  truth  and  apostoHc  order,"  was  my  father's  fa- 
ther well  instructed  ;  and  by  him,  as  his  last  official  act,  was  my  father 
himself^  baptized  by  his  own  name,  at  the  request  of  a  dying  sister, 
on  the  day  of  her  burial.^  By  that  father,  carefully  instructed  in  the 
principles  of  the  Church,  I  stand  before  you  in  his  stead,— for  he  had 
been  destined  by  his  parents  to  the  same  Ministry,— the  Minister  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

In  the  Providence  of  God,  and  by  his  blessing  upon  the  unwearied 
labours  of  that  faithful  man  Thomas  Barton,^  I  take  as  it  were  my 
father's  place,  and  preach  this  day  to  you  "  the  unsearchable  riches  of 
the  Gospel  of  Christ." 

Erie,  Pa.,  hath  recently  been  called  to  peace  ;    and  the  God  of  love  and  peace 

the  charge  of  the  parish.  shall  be  with  you.'     There  were  few,  if 

Pequea,  Lancaster  county.  Pa.  any,  that  were  not  in  tears.     Soon  after 

2  Barton  Henderson.     He  died  Oct.  he  buried  your  aunt,  he  left  for  England, 

1st,  1823.  but  died  before  he  arrived." 

'  These  circumstances  were  commu-         *  Mr.  Barton  left  several  sons.     One 

nicated  to  the  writer  by  an  aged  aunt,  of  them,  Benjamin  S.,  M.  D.,  was  the 

now  on  the  verge  of  fourscore  years,  who  eminent  botanist,  and  Professor  in  the 

adds,  "  Mr.  B.  was  beloved  by  all  that  University  of  Pennsylvania.      Two   of 

knew  him.     The  day  he  preached  his  his  descendants  are  now  physicians  in 

farewell  sermon,  the  church  would  not  Philadelphia  ;  the  distinguished  surgeon, 

hold  half  the   people  that  came  to  hear  I.  Rhea  Barton,  being   one.      George 

him.     He  took  his  text  from  2  Cor.  xiii.  Washington  Barton  is  also  a  descendant, 

11.     'Finally,  brethren,  farewell.      Be  formerly  judge   of  one  of  the  courts  in 

of  good  comfort,  be  of  one  mind  ;  live  in  Pennsylvania. 


58 
C— p.  19. 

NEW  BRUNSWICK  CHURCH. 

Mr.  Wood  (mentioned  in  the  note  on  page  19)  having  removed 
from  New  Brunswick  to  Nova  Scotia,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Seabury,  Jun.,  (af- 
terwards Bishop,)  was  appointed  by  the  Society  to  succeed  him.  Mr. 
Seabury  removed  to  Jamaica,  Long  Island,  in  1757,  having  resided  in 
New  Brunswick  about  tliree  years.  Mr.  McKean  succeeded  him,  De- 
cember 16th,  1757.  Mr.  McKean  is  still  recollected  by  some  of  the  re- 
sidents of  New  Brunswick,  and  is  described  to  have  been  ''  a  particu- 
larly pleasing  preacher."  The  charter  of  incorporation  was  obtained 
during  his  Rectorship ;  and  "  what  is  somewhat  singular,  writes  Mr. 
Carter,  "  this  original  charter  was  found  only  a  year  or  two  ago,  in  the 
garret  of  an  old  building  in  the  city  of  New- York,  and  presented  to  the 
vestry,  accompanied  with  a  very  appropriate  letter,  by  Edward  W. 
Dunham,  Esq.,  of  New- York."  Upon  Mr.  McKean's  removal  in  1763 
to  Perth  Amboy,  where  he  died,  the  Hon.  Edward  Antill  officiated  as 
lay  reader,  both  here  and  at  Piscataway,  for  a  short  time,  until  Rev. 
Leonard  Cutting  was  appointed  Rector  in  1764.  He  reported  one 
hundred  and  thir-ty  families,  and  twenty-five  communicants.  Mr.  Cut- 
ting removed  to  Hempstead,  Long  Island,  in  1766,  and  was  succeeded  by 
Rev.  Abraham  Beach,  in  1767.  Mr.  Beach  officiated  till  1784,  when  he 
became  assistant  minister  of  Trinity  Church,  New- York.  Mr.  Row- 
land was  his  successor.  He  removed  shortly  after  to  Shelburn,  Nova 
Scotia.  After  a  short  vacancy,  Rev.  George  Ogilvie,  son-in-law  of  Dr. 
Macwhorter.  of  Newark,  was  called.  He  is  said  to  have  been  an  elo- 
quent preacher.     He  resigned  in  1790.    Mr.  Van  Dyke  succeeded  him. 

From  1793  to  1799  there  appears  to  have  been  a  vacancy.  On  the 
25lh  March,  1799,  Rev.  John  Henry  Hobart,  afterwards  Bishop,  en- 
gaged to  officiate  for  one  year,  after  which  Mr.  (afterwards  Dr.)  Beasley 
supplied  the  services  for  a  short  time.  Mr.  Cotton  officiated  for  a  year 
from  May,  1800.  On  May  11,  1801,  Rev.  John  Croes,  of  Swedesbo- 
rough,  aiterwards  Bishop,  was  called  to  the  rectorship  of  the  parish. 
Rev.  John  Croes,  Jun.,  having  been  assistant  minister  to  his  father  for 
nearly  two  years,  was  called  to  the  rectorship  in  1832,  Rev.  Alfred 
Stubbs,  the  present  Rector,  succeeded  Mr.  Croes  in  1839.  The  writer 
is  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Rev.  Abraham  Beach  Carter  for  this 
brief  summary.  He  is  happy  to  add  that  this  parish  has  recently  pur- 
chased a  parsonage  house  and  lot,  a  well-deserved  tribute  to  the  suc- 
cessful ability  and  zeal  with  which  their  present  Rector  has  discharged 
the  duties  of  his  office. 


I 


59 


D.— p.  19. 

For  the  following  particulars  relative  to  this  benefactor  of  the  church, 
«he  writer  is  indebted  to  John  S.  Condit.  M.  D. 

Any  thing,  which  relates  to  that  chivalric  soldier.  Colonel  Peter 
Schuyler,  whose  name  was  in  the  ears  of  our  fathers  like  the  sound  oi' 
a  trumpet,  ought  to  be  interesting  to  their  descendants. 

Colonel  Schuyler,  when  not  in  service,  resided  at  his  seat  in  Barba- 
does  Neck,  on  the  Passaic  River,  opposite  the  now  northern  part  of  the 
city  of  Newark.  A  portion  of  his  establishment  yet  remains,  forming, 
although  much  altered,  the  recent  residence  of  Mr.  Leonard  Kirby. 

The  principal  house,  a  stately  edifice  of  brick  and  stone, — not  im- 
probably similar  in  fashion  to  that  built  by  his  brother  Colonel  John 
Schuyler,  now  standing  opposite  Belleville,  owned  by  Peter  G.  Stuyve- 
sant,  Esq., — was  placed  a  short  distance  south  of  the  remaining  building 
in  the  rear  of  the  venerable  Catalpa  trees,  yet  feebly  surviving  the 
master  and  his  mansion. 

It  is  not  an  unreasonable  belief  that  from  under  the  shade  of  these 
very  trees  a  hundred  years  ago,  Colonel  Schuyler  often  left  his  pleasant 
home,  to  aid  both  with  purse  and  sword,  (for  he  used  both,)  in  restrain- 
ing and  repelling  the  threatening  advances  of  the  French  and  Indians 
upon  the  harassed  frontier  of  New-York,  or  from  our  own  border.  For 
although  this  State  enjoyed  comparative  quiet,  yet  there  were  periods 
of  painful  solicitude  and  apprehension. 

On  this  very  spot,  where  men  now  dwell  so  securely,  so  unappre- 
hensive of  any  possible  external  danger,  where  it  would  seem  the 
sound  of  the  war-whoop  could  never  have  been  feared  or  heard,  the  in- 
habitants of  Newark,  not  much  more  than  a  century  ago,  worshipped 
God  with  arms  in  their  hands. 

Colonel  Peter  Schuyler  married  a  daughter  of  John  Walter,  an  emi- 
nent merchant  of  New- York,  and  a  friend  and  executor  of  his  father. 
He  died  in  1768.  leaving  one  daughter,  Catherine,  who  married  Cap- 
tain A.  Kennedy,  a  member  of  a  highly  respectable  family,  long  resi- 
dent in  this  country.  They  lived  on  the  Neck,  near  Newark,  upon  the 
estate  previously  occupied  by  her  father.  Ultimately  she  died  child- 
less.    After  her  decease  Captain  Kennedy  married  a  Miss  Watts. 

At  a  subsequent  period,  in  consequence  of  the  death  of  a  remote 
relative,  the  Scotch  title  and  appurtenant  estate  ofCassilis  devolving 
upon  Captain  Kennedy,  he  removed  to  Great  Britain.  His  descendants 
are  now  there,  and  one  of  them,  the  inheritor  of  the  title  worn  by  his  fa- 
ther, has  since  been  elevated  to  the  advanced  dignity  of  Marquis  of  Ailsa. 


60 

Although  Colonel  Schuyler  left  no  descendants,  there  are  many  re- 
mote connections  yet  surviving.  The  great-grandchildren  of  his  brother, 
Colonel  John,  yet  ow^n  and  occupy  the  greater  part  of  the  large  plan- 
tation and  mine  estate  upon  vi^hich  Colonel  Peter  was  born  and  reared. 

The  father  of  Colonel  Peter  Schuyler  was  Captain  Arent  Schuyler, 
who  settled  in  Barbadoes  Neck  about  1710.  He  was  the  individual  who 
opened  the  noted  Schuyler  (copper)  mines,  and  had  probably  also  seen 
military  service.  He  doubtless  came  from  Albany,  and  was  probably  the 
brother  of  the  distinguished  Colonel  Peter  Schuyler,  of  New- York,  who 
exercised  great  influence  over  the  Five  Nations.  His  wife,  mother  of 
Colonel  P.  Schuyler,  of  Newark,  was  Swantie  Van  Dykhuysen,  of  Flat- 
lands,  Long  Island. 

This  same  family  at  a  later  period,  (the  Albany  branch,)  produced 
General  Philip  Schuyler,  of  the  Revolution.  Arent  H.  Schuyler,  of  the 
Belleville  congregation,-  still  represents  the  family  near  the  ancient 
homestead  on  Barbadoes  Neck. 


,-^BL, 


—p.  34. 


THE   APOSTOLICAL   INSTITUTION   OF   EPISCOPACY 
DEMONSTRATED. 

I  CONCEIVE  this  that  follows  is  as  clear  a  demonstration  as  any  thing 
of  this  nature  is  capable  of: 

"  That  this  government,  (Episcopal)  was  received  universally  in  the 
Church,  either  in  the  Apostles'  time  or  presently  after,  is  so  evident 
and  unquestionable,  that  the  most  learned  adversaries  of  this  govern- 
ment, do  themselves  confess  it." 

"  Petrus  Molinseus,  in  his  book,  De  Munere  Pastorali,  written  in  defence 
of  Presbyterial  government,  acknowledgeth  that  presently  after  the 

Apostles'  times,  or  even  in  their  time, it  was  ordained  that  in  every 

city  one  of  the  Presbytery  should  be  called  a  Bishop,  who  should  have 
pre-eminence  over  his  colleagues,  to  avoid  confusion  which  ofttimes 
ariseth  out  of  equality ;  and  truly  this  form  of  government  all  churches 
every  where  received." 

"  Theodoras  Beza,  in  his  tract,  De  triplici  Episcopatus  genere,  con- 
fesseth  in  effect  the  same  thing ," 


61 

"  Certainly  from  these  two  great  defenders,  (others  are  added  in  a 
note,)  we  should  never  have  had  this  free  acknowledgment, — so  pre- 
judicial to  their  own  pretence,  and  so  advantageous  to  their  adversaries' 
purpose, — had  not  the  evidence  of  clear  and  undeniable  truth  enforced 
them  to  it." 

"  We  may  safely  take  for  granted,  that  which  these  two  learned 
adversaries  have  confessed,  and  see  whether,  upon  this  foundation  laid 
by  them,  we  may  not,  by  unanswerable  reason,  raise  this  superstructure : 

'■  That,  seeing  Episcopal  government  is  confessedly  so  ancient  and 
so  catholic,  it  cannot,  with  reason,  be  denied  to  be  Apostolic." 

"  For  so  great  a  change,  as  between  Presbyterial  government  and 
Episcopal,  could  not  possibly  have  prevailed  all  the  world  over  in  a 
little  time.  Had  Episcopal  government  been  an  aberration  from  or  a 
corruption  of  the  government  left  in  the  churches  by  the  Apostles,  it  had 
been  very  strange  that  it  should  have  been  received  in  any  one  church 
.so  suddenly,  or  that  it  should  have  prevailed  in  all  for  many  ages  after. 
•'  Had  the  churches  erred,  they  would  have  varied  j  what,  therefore,  is 
one  and  the  same  amongst  all,  came  not  surely  by  error,  but  by  tradi- 
tion."    Thus  Tertullian  argues 

"  For  what  universal  cause  can  be  assigned  or  feigned,  of  this  uni- 
versal apostasy  ?" 

"  What  device  shall  we  study,  or  to  what  fountain  shall  we  reduce 
this  strange  pretended  alteration?  Ignorance  of  the  will  of  Christ,  on 
the  part  of  Presbyters  and  other  Christians,  touching  the  necessity  of 
Presbyterial  government?  or  wickedness  in  them  to  conspire  against 
it?  Ambition  on  the  part  of  some  or  many  of  a  forbidden  superiority, 
succeeding  in  its  aim  without  opposition  or  contradiction  ?  Nay ,  without 
any  noise  or  notice  taken  of  it !  All  the  watchmen  fast  asleep — all  the 
dogs  so  dumb  that  not  so  much  as  one  should  open  his  mouth  against  it  ?" 

"  But  let  us  suppose,  (though  it  be  a  horrible  untruth.)  that  the  Pres- 
byters and  people  then,  were  not  so  good  Christians  as  the  Presbyterians 

are  now, yet,  certainly,  they  were  men  ;  and  if  we  look  at  them  as 

mere  natural  men,"  the  case,  he  proceeds  to  argue,  presents  as  many 
difficulties  as  the  other. 

"  When  I  shall  see,  therefore,  all  the  fables  in  the  Metamorphosis  acted 
and  prove  true  stories ;  when  I  shall  see  all  the  democracies  and 
aristocracies  in  the  world,  lie  down  and  sleep  and  wake  into  monarchies ; 
then  will  I  begin  to  believe  that  Presbyterial  government,  having  con- 
tinued in  the  church  during  the  Apostles'  times,  should,  presently  after, 
(against  the  Apostles'  doctrine  and  will  of  Christ,)  be  whirled  about 
like  a  scene  in  a  mask,  and  transformed  into  Episcopacy.  In  the  mean 
time,  while  these  things  remain  thus  incredible,  and  in  human  reason 
impossible,  I  hope  I  shall  have  leave  to  conclude  thus — 

"  Episcopal  government  is  acknowledged  to  have  been  universally 
received  in  the  Church,  presently  after  the  Apostles'  times." 


62 

'•  Between  the  Apostles'  times  and  this  '  presently  after.'  there  was 
not  time  enough  for,  nor  possibility  of,  so  great  an  alteration." 

"  And,  therefore,  there  was  no  such  alteration  as  is  pretended ;  and 
therefore  Episcopacy,  being  confessed  to  be  so  ancient  and  catholic, 
must  be  granted  also  to  be  Apostolic :  Quod  erat  demonstrandum." — 
Chillingworth'e  Works,  p.  507. 


4 


"^      F,— p.  39. 


HURCH  AT  ORANGE. 

St.  Mark's  Church.  Orange,  may  be  considered  as  a  daughter  of 
Trinity  Church.  The  families  which  formed  the  nucleus  of  St.  Mark's 
were  for  many  years  under  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  Rector  of  Trinity 
Church,  and  attended  service  at  Newark. 

The  original  family,  which  embraced  Church  principles  in  Orange, 
was  that  of  Benjamin  Williams.  At  a  remote  period,  not  far  from  the 
time  of  the  American  Revolution,  a  copy  of  Dean  Hicke's  Treatise  on 
the  Christian  Priesthood,  found  its  way  into  the  hands  of  Mr.  Williams. 
who  had  been  educated  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Presbyterians.  Upon 
reading  the  book,  he  discovered  that  it  advanced  claims  for  the  divine 
origin  of  Episcopacy.  Although  the  doctrine  was  new  to  him,  and 
one  which  was  opposed  to  all  his  former  opinions,  he  persevered  in 
the  examination.  His  mind  dwelt  upon  the  subject,  and  after  making 
such  an  investigation  as  the  circumstances  of  those  times,  and  his  lim- 
ited opportunities  would  permit,  he  came  to  the  conclusion,  that  the 
office  of  a  Bishop  was  of  divine  origin,  and  therefore  of  lasting  obliga- 
tion in  the  Church  of  Christ.  He  immediately  connected  himself  with 
Trinity  Church,  Newark,  and  in  its  communion  continued  until  his  death 
in  1826.  Although  living  six  miles  distant  from  the  Church,  he  was  a 
very  constant  attendant  on  divine  service.  His  numerous  family  were 
educated  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Church,  and,  with  him,  frequented  the 
services  at  Newark.  Their  love  for  the  church  attracted  the  attention 
of  their  successive  pastors,  and  obtained  from  them  occasional  visits. 

So  early  as  the  year  1808,  Mr.  Willard  reported  to  the  Convention 
"  That  he  had  performed  divine  service  and  preached  twice  at  Mr.  Ben- 
jamin Williams',  Orange,  where  he  had  large  and  attentive  congrega- 
tions.    That  there  were  several  families  who  appeared  to  be  attached 


^ 


63 

to  the  Episcopal  Church:  for  whom  he  has  baptized  seven  or  eight 
children,  and  who  regularly  attend  at  Newark.  Mr.  Willard  is  of  opin- 
ion, that  with  little  attention,  a  considerable  Church  might  be  collected 
there." 

From  the  time  of  this  report  by  Mr.  Willard,  vmtil  1825,  these  fami- 
lies, embracing  the  children  and  some  of  the  neighbours  of  Benjamin 
Williams,  were  favoured  with  occasional  services  from  the  successive 
rectors  of  Trinity  Church,  and  also  from  the  Bishop,  who,  after  1819, 
appears  to  have  included  their  neighbourhood  in  his  Episcopal  visitations. 
In  the  year  1825,  the  Bishop  placed  them  under  the  charge  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Holmes,  as  Missionary.  Mr.  Holmes,  faithful  to  his  trust, 
visited  the  station  about  once  in  six  weeks,  and  had  several  interviews 
with  tlie  aged  Mr.  Williams,  who,  through  all  difficulties,  had  for  some 
fifty  years  preserved  his  connexion  with  the  Episcopal  Church.  The 
old  man,  however,  Avas  not  suffered  long  to  rejoice  in  hearing  the  voice 
of  the  welcome  Missionary,  for  in  a  few  months  he  was  called  away  full 
of  years.  The  services  however  were  not  discontinued.  Although  at 
first  but  feebly  supported  by  some  five  or  six  families,  principally  the 
descendants  of  Mr.  Williams,  the  zealous  Missionary  continued  his 
labours.  One  family  after  another  was  added  to  his  congregation,  so 
that  in  1827,  a  Church  was  organized.  During  1828,  the  present' 
church  edifice  was  erected.  In  1829,  the  congregation  which  had  be- 
come too  numerous  to  continue  as  one  of  Mr.  Holmes's  Missionary 
stations,  secured  the  valuable  services  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Whittingham, 
then  a  deacon  of  the  diocese  of  New- York,  and  now  Bishop  of  Mary- 
land. After  continuing  in  charge  for  a  year  and  a  half,  he  was  called 
to  a  more  extended  field  of  labour,  and  the  congregation  elected  their 
former  Missionary  as  Rector.  Mr.  Holmes  continued  in  charge  until 
1836,  when  he  died,  universally  beloved." 

To  this  we  may  add,  that  Mr.  Holmes  was  succeeded  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Williams,  grandson  of  the  Mr.  Williams  whose  name  is  men- 
tioned above  as  the  first  Episcopalian  of  Orange.  St.  Mark's  Church) 
gradually  increasing  from  so  small  a  beginning,  is  now  in  a  flourishing 
state,  and  numbers  one  hundred  and  twenty  communicants. 


T 


64 


G.— p.  40. 

MINISTERS  OP  CHRIST  CHAPEL,  BELLEVILLE. 

The  following  list  of  the  different  Clergymen,  who  have  officiated 
in  Belleville,  was  kindly  furnished  the  writer  by  a  member  of  the 
Parish. 

Rev'd  William  Berrian,  1810. 
"        George  Morehouse,  about  1816. 
"        Augustus  Fitch,  about  1819. 
"        Lawson  Carter,  1821. 
John  Grigg,  1823  to  1825. 

[atthew  Matthews,  1825  to  1829. 
Ralph  Williston,  1831. 
"        Messrs.  Holmes  &  Whittingham,  1832. 
"        Robert  Davies,  1834  to  1838. 
"        Doct.  Chapman,  1841. 
V  "        Sam'l  L.  Southard,  1842  to  1844. 

"        Henry  B.  Sherman,  1845. 

At  various  times  the  service  has  been  read  by  lay-readers ;  the 
Rev'd  Mr.  Ward,  and  the  late  Rev'd  Mr.  Lathrop  being  among  the 
number,  before  they  entered  into  holy  orders.  In  1832,  the  late  Mr. 
Holmes,  of  Orange,  gave  a  portion  of  his  time  to  Belleville  ;  and  at  that 
time  also,  the  present  Bishop  of  Maryland,  who  had  left  St.  Luke's,  N. 
Y.,  on  account  of  his  health,  and  was  with  his  family  connexions  at 
Orange,  gave  us  his  services  occasionally.  The  Church  was  separated 
from  Trinity,  Newark,  while  Mr.  Davies  was  our  Minister. 


BX5920.N6T8H4 

The  Days  of  old  :  a  centennial  discourse 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00004  0420 


